China pledges to ‘firmly support’ Cuba as US escalates pressure on Havana

China will stand by Cuba in defending its sovereignty and resisting outside interference, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Monday as Washington stepped up its campaign to force political change in Havana.

Guo made the remarks at a regular press briefing in Beijing on the 66th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“No matter how the international landscape evolves, China will firmly support Cuba in exploring the socialist development path suited to its national conditions and in safeguarding national sovereignty and opposing external interference,” he said.

Cuba recognised the People’s Republic of China in September 1960, becoming the first Latin American country to do so.

“In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, sustained and steady progress has been made in building a community with a shared future between China and Cuba,” Guo said.

Guo did not announce new aid or name the United States, taking a softer line than Beijing did at the United Nations over the weekend.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Vice-President Han Zheng urged “the relevant country” to stop threatening Cuba with force and lift the blockade and sanctions in full.

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Han spoke four days after US President Donald Trump told the same forum that his administration wanted “a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba”. Trump called the island a failed state that “will fall”, prompting the Cuban delegation to walk out.

Pressure on Havana has built since January, when the United States cut the island off from Venezuelan oil after capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Later that month, Trump signed an executive order describing Cuba as an “unusual and extraordinary threat”.

Earlier this month, the US State Department sanctioned five state-run entities in the energy, mining and financial sectors and a grandson of former leader Raul Castro.

On Friday, CBS News reported that the US Army Reserve was assessing whether it could send military police, medical staff and other units to US Southern Command within four months. US officials told the broadcaster the planning was aimed at Cuba, though the internal Army message did not name the island.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is leading talks with Havana, also said last week that Cuba had a “golden opportunity” to change course.

Trump told the General Assembly that Rubio was “deep into negotiations with Cuba” and vowed that Washington would not allow “a haven for foreign adversaries” on its doorstep.

Havana has reported no progress in the talks, and Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio accused Washington of an “international crime” for blocking oil supplies.

Beijing has paired its rhetoric with aid, and in January President Xi Jinping approved US$80 million in emergency financial help and a donation of 60,000 tonnes of rice. A Chinese vessel delivered 15,000 tonnes of that rice to Havana in May.

After Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions in May, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the measures gravely infringed on Cubans’ right to subsistence and development. The spokesperson urged Washington to end the blockade and all coercion against the island.