Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) began a two-day visit to Cuba by agreeing to increase Chinese purchases of Cuban nickel and sugar, and send farm goods to the communist-run island as it recovers from three devastating storms.
Hu arrived in Cuba late Monday on the second leg of a Latin American tour that comes as China expands its diplomacy and investments in the resource-rich region. Earlier, the Chinese leader announced the start of free trade talks with Costa Rica in January.
Even as Cuban state television broadcast images of Hu arriving at Havana’s airport, it was already announcing the signing of the trade and investment accords. The governments were expected to sign more economic agreements during his visit.
DEVASTATION
The much-needed investment comes just weeks after Cuba’s farm sector and economy was devastated by Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma, which did more than US$10 billion in combined damage. Cuban media did not give a monetary value for the latest agreements.
“For half a century, the Cuban people have accomplished great successes in safeguarding state sovereignty, national economic development and a better quality of life,” Hu said in a statement. “We sincerely hope that the Cuban people continue to make new advances in building socialism.”
Hu, who was accompanied by a large delegation of Chinese businessmen, was met at the airport by Cuban Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura and a throng of Chinese residents who waved tiny Cuba and Chinese flags.
LAST TIME
Hu last came to Cuba in 2004, when he met with Fidel Castro. The ailing 82-year-old has not been seen in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006 and there was no word on whether China’s president would meet with him this time. Hu was expected to see Fidel’s younger brother Raul, who took over as Cuba’s president in February.
The Chinese president was scheduled to visit a Havana school for Chinese students yesterday and Cuba’s government scheduled an accord-signing ceremony at the Palace of the Revolution in the evening.
China has transformed its economy by embracing market reforms, even as its Communist Party has continued to maintain strict control over the political system. Raul Castro is said to be an admirer of the Chinese economic reform model, though top Cuban officials have said they have no interest in implementing such policies in Cuba.
China is Cuba’s second-largest trading partner, with the two sides generating US$2.7 billion annually. Only Venezuela trades more with Cuba.
RELATIONS
Cuba-China relations were cool for decades given Havana’s close ties to Moscow. The collapse of the Soviet Union crippled Cuba’s economy, however, and borrowing and increased trade with China has helped the island recover in recent years.
Hu’s trip to Costa Rica was his first to Central America. China’s trade with Latin America has jumped from US$10 billion in 2000 to US$102.6 billion last year.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
RSS