Li Keqiang meets with Cuba’s former revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in Havana on September 25 (XINHUA)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made an official visit to Cuba in late September to meet Cuban President Raul Castro, and the two heads of government witnessed the signing of over 20 cooperation agreements across a wide range of areas. The visit was the first by a Chinese premier to the Caribbean state in the 56 years since the two nations established diplomatic ties.

Li stressed that it was time for a new chapter in relations with Cuba, with new impetus in bilateral cooperation.

High-level exchanges between China and Cuba have been frequent. Former Chinese Presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao both visited Cuba during their tenure, and current President Xi Jinping has done likewise. The two countries have maintained a sound friendly relationship due to their shared ideology—both are socialist states.

China-Cuba relations have vast potential for growth, as the island country is revamping its social and economic development and has restored full diplomatic relations with its longtime adversary, the United States.

Facilitating Cuba's growth

Due to the decades-long economic blockade imposed by the United States and its own economic system, Cuba's economy had been mired in low efficiency and weak productivity. The global economic downturn in recent years aggravated the situation. Cuba's economy grew merely 1 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to 4.7 percent over the same period last year.

During interviews with Chinese media in the leadup to Li's arrival, Cubans expressed expectations that the visit would bring more investment and cooperation opportunities for their country.

Guo Yonghu, a professor of international studies at Jilin University in Changchun, said the economies of China and Cuba complement each other. Deepening bilateral economic cooperation not only conforms to the economic development needs of both nations, but also helps solve the practical difficulties faced by Cubans.

According to Guo, Cuba has rich tourism and nickel resources and a world-leading biotechnology sector. Biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry are important areas for cooperation due to Cuba's advanced scientific expertise and products, such as vaccines and innovative drugs to combat cancer and other diseases, all of which present attractive prospects for both businesses and people in China.

China's exports to Cuba—electromechanical devices, oil and food stuffs, agricultural machinery, household appliances, automobiles and medical apparatus —satisfy the needs of Cubans. Nonetheless, the bilateral economic cooperation potential is still huge, according to Guo.

During the visit, China and Cuba signed agreements in technology, finance, production capacity, telecommunications, environmental protection, new energy, and inspection and quarantine. The two nations will work together to plan infrastructure projects and cooperate in industrial equipment manufacturing.

Li also vowed to assist Cuba to industrialize. Both countries face urgent development tasks, and China stands ready to focus on economic development in cooperating with Cuba, to support Cuba's industrialization, and to cooperate on infrastructure construction and industrial equipment production, Li said during talks with Castro.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana on September 24 (XINHUA)

New opportunities

Due to the traditional and profound mutual trust between Beijing and Havana, as well as their mature economic relations, bilateral cooperation has a solid foundation. According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China, China is Cuba's second largest trading partner after Venezuela. Bilateral trade surged 58.7 percent from its 2014 level to reach $2.2 billion in 2015. The thaw in Cuban-U.S. relations provides more potential for Cuba's development and, thus, more opportunity for China-Cuba cooperation.

According to Zhang Fan, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the U.S. blockade is the largest fetter on Cuba's development, and the warming of Cuban-U.S. relations may help gradually unleash Cuba's long-repressed economic potential, thereby providing huge opportunities for the island state's economic partners. Despite the two nations announcing the normalization of their bilateral relations almost two years ago, the United States has yet to lift its embargo. Members of the international community have been pressing Washington for a long time to make a positive move as soon as possible.

China's Belt and Road Initiative also provides opportunities for Chinese-Cuban economic cooperation.

Chen Xiangyang, a senior researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said although China's development initiative focuses on economic cooperation with states across Asia, Europe and North Africa, it also applies to Cuba, which urgently needs international infrastructure construction and production capacity cooperation.

For various reasons, including the U.S. economic sanctions, Cuba's infrastructure has fallen far behind. Its major road and railway systems were built in the 1960s and 1970s, and its airport facilities are also relatively poor. Chen said Cuba and China can extend their cooperation in infrastructure construction under the Belt and Road Initiative, as China has advantages in funding, technology and experience. China can also transfer its production capacity to Cuba to meet the market demand in the country.

Sharing experience

Since 2010, Cuba has undertaken a series of economic and social reforms to upgrade its socialist governance model. In 2011, Castro approved more than 300 economic reform measures and plans, saying the experience of other socialist states would be incorporated into the Cuban model.

According to Xu Yicong, a former Chinese Ambassador to Cuba, Cuba's reform program resembles to some degree China's reform and opening up policy introduced in the late 1970s, as it involves setting up special economic zones and introducing foreign capital. China can therefore share its experience with Cuba, as well as serve as an important source of funding and technology to facilitate Cuba's development.

In talks with Li, Castro stressed that Cuba agrees with China on measures to develop bilateral ties and wishes to learn from China's development experience.

In interviews with China's Xinhua News Agency, Cuban academics expressed expectations about Cuba following China's development path.

Rafael Hernandez, a professor of international relations at the University of Havana, told Xinhua that Cuba must learn more from China on how to set up a coherent economic system, starting with research on applied science and technology to promote development and production.

Hernandez said that the Cuban Government has carefully studied Beijing's reforms over the years with a view to adopting measures that could be adapted to Cuba's conditions. He added that China has experienced high levels of economic growth over the last 30 years, while Cuba has achieved great social development. The possibility of exchanging experiences in these areas offers a very special framework for relations between the two nations, both today and in the future.

Eduardo Regalado Florido, head of the Asia section of the International Policy Research Center in Havana, said China's development experience is valuable for Cuba as it strives to modernize its socialist model.

China has shown that a socialist state can build a sustainable and prosperous society for its citizens and assume global political leadership without ideological restrictions, Florido added.

Copyedited by Chris Surtees

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