Hua Xin attributes his country’s development to reforms, foreign investment and the global market, though he insists on maintaining Communist leadership
14ymedio, Madrid, November 10, 2026 / Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez is making an official trip to China from this Tuesday until next Friday as a “special envoy of the Party and the Government.” In a brief official statement, the authorities acknowledge that Beijing “is a strategic partner of great relevance for Cuba and one of the main collaborators in key sectors for the country’s economic and social development.”
They likewise say that “bilateral ties have undergone sustained consolidation in recent years, backed by intense political exchange and mutually beneficial cooperation,” and that the visit “is part of the excellent state” of those relations.
The publication of the news coincides, in the state media, with an interview with the Chinese ambassador in Havana, Hua Xin, in which the Asian giant is described as “a hopeful alternative to global capitalism.” In the conversation, originally broadcast on Randy Alonso’s podcast Es la idea, the diplomat expressed, in condemnation of the US sanctions on the Island, “deep concern over the escalation of the unilateral blockade against Cuba” and “the need to end the coercive economic, trade and financial measures against Cuba, in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.”
The ambassador afirmed that Beijing and Havana constitute “a community with a shared future”
Praising the role of the BRICS — an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the group of emerging economies formed in 2006, of which Cuba is a partner without being a member) on the international stage — Hua states that it has become “the most influential platform in the world for cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries and today is a pioneering force in promoting the reform of global governance.”
He also stated that Beijing and Havana constitute “a community of shared future” and stand “in the front row” of implementing four initiatives proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping for the BRICS: “for global development, for global security, for global civilization and for global governance.”
The conversation is a long tribute to Beijing and its exponential development, and it mentioned, precisely, the “reforms driven in recent years by China, which have truly brought about an impressive economic and social takeoff for the rest of the world.” Although the interviewers at no point refer to the most recent measures by the Havana regime aimed at loosening the economy somewhat, the praise for the Chinese “transformations” was eloquent.
The ambassador did assert that “China’s development is largely due to reform and opening up,” but the pro-government press highlighted, even in the headline, the nuance he introduced next: “persist in the leadership of the Communist Party.” Hua also noted that another key to success is having opened “the door to all the countries of the world; we let in the resources, technologies, science and thinking of the whole world and we made good use of the global market.”
Hua highlighted the “many changes and progress” in China’s industrial development as well, and referred specifically to “three viral products”: solar panels, lithium batteries and electric vehicles, “which are very well received in Cuba,” and to three “emerging products”: “robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and innovative medicines,” which “are growing rapidly.”
Hua referred specifically to “three viral products”: solar panels, lithium batteries and electric vehicles, “which are very well received in Cuba.”
Just on Saturday, the official Cuban press was invited to a World Media Summit in Beijing, in which, at the very moment that a new wave of repression against independent journalism and dissident voices was under way on the Island, they defended “digital sovereignty” and “equal access” to AI, arguing that technological gaps can deepen inequalities between countries.
Beijing’s cooperation with Havana in the technological sphere is, precisely, one of the elements that has most worried the United States for several months. Last Thursday, two Chinese companies, China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation (CEIEC) and Beijing H&C Technologies, were sanctioned for supplying military components and equipment to the Island through the Cuban company Duna S.A., previously sanctioned in August for its links to military imports from China and Russia.
In response, the spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jiakun, protested at a press conference, stating that cooperation between his country and Cuba is “completely legitimate and transparent” and rejecting US attempts to “disrupt and sabotage” that cooperation.
Separately, this same Tuesday, official data were published showing that the value in yuan of Chinese exports to the rest of the world rose 28.7% year on year in October, to about 2.79 trillion yuan (US$418.248 billion).
This represents a slight slowdown from the 29.6% growth recorded the previous month, though it is in any case well above the 18.6% and 17.8% of the two prior readings, thus strengthening foreign sales as a key engine for the world’s second-largest economy in the face of its domestic demand problems.
In October, total trade between China and other countries came to about 4.87 trillion yuan (US$729.664 billion), a rise of 31.2% compared with the same month of the previous year.
The figures, released by the General Administration of Customs, also point to a 34.7% increase in imports compared with the same month of 2025, reaching about 2.08 trillion yuan (US$311.416 billion). In the tenth month of the year, China’s trade surplus stood at about 712.78 billion yuan (US$106.831 billion), an increase of 11.29% year on year, according to calculations made by the Spanish agency EFE.
In October, total trade between China and other countries came to about 4.87 trillion yuan (US$729.664 billion), a rise of 31.2% compared with the same month of the previous year. The data released this Tuesday also show that this indicator grew 20% in the cumulative period from January to October, with imports rising more (+23.6%) than exports (+17.6%).
Customs also presented today the foreign trade data denominated in dollars, used as a reference by international analysts and which usually diverge from those released in the Chinese currency due to exchange-rate fluctuations.
In US dollars, sales abroad rose 35.2% year on year to about US$412.330 billion, while imports did so at an even faster pace (+41.6%) to reach US$307.050 billion.
Both rates exceed analysts’ expectations, which anticipated a 33.5% rise in sales abroad and 32% in purchases of foreign goods.
Translated by GH.
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