The only country in Latin America with a ruling communist party is Cuba. During the following conversation with China Today, the ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to China, Carlos Miguel Pereira, expressed his congratulations regarding the first centenary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and also highlights the value that the socialist path has had in both countries in overcoming major challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme poverty.
Carlos Miguel Pereira, Cuban ambassador to China. Michael Zarate
China Today (CT): What do you think of the significance of the celebration China held this July 1 in honor of the first centenary of the CPC?
Carlos Miguel Pereira (CMP): The celebration of the CPC’s centennial has great historic significance, not only for China but also for all the progressive forces in the world that stick to the path of socialism and the wellbeing of humanity.
Since its founding in 1921, the CPC has more than proven itself to be a leading political force displaying great leadership, exemplary integrity, and connection with the public. In its centennial trajectory, its role as the undisputed leader of the Chinese people has been key in the process of territorial reunification and sustainable and peaceful development of China. On the basis of democratic centralism and the strategy of the united front, it knows how to unite and combine other political parties, organizations, business associations, social, ethnic groups, religious personalities, and Chinese in other countries of the world grouped in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, in pursuing the common goal of rebuilding the country and leading the Chinese nation on the path of economic and social development.
The CPC not only managed to found new China, but also started and led the reform and opening-up process, bringing about far-reaching changes in the economic, social, and institutional sectors, as well as consolidating the theoretical foundation of socialism with its own characteristics. More than just being a program of technical adjustments, the reform has been posed in political terms as a driving force for the development of socialism under Chinese conditions.
Throughout all these years, the CPC’s prestige and moral authority within the Chinese population have been strengthened, based on the exercise of assertive leadership that has allowed the truth to be revealed through facts. It’s vocation to analyze in a prudent and pragmatic way the moments of greatest uncertainty and turn great challenges into opportunities has been admirable.
In the most recent times, the CPC has become a shining example in the fight against poverty and international cooperation against COVID-19, reflecting the priorities set by its leaders with comrade Xi Jinping at the core.
China’s management and control of the epidemic has shown to the international community how the socialist practice of prioritizing human beings is the most effective way to overcome the pandemic. China and Cuba have socialist systems, a firm leadership of the Party and the government, and a strong sense of responsibility, which constitute important strengths in the face of this common enemy of humanity.
At the international level, the rise of the CPC as a political organization working for a more just, equitable, and multi-polar world is unquestionable. Its efforts to promote a community of shared future for humanity and the promotion of initiatives such as the Belt and Road combat the main scourges facing the world.
The celebration of the CPC’s centennial also has special significance for the Cuban government and people, who held the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba last April. Cuba wants this event to mark a new stage for the strengthening of bilateral ties and the exchange of experience on socialist construction in both countries.
CT: Taking into account that both parties lead the destinies of China and Cuba respectively, and that each country has their own characteristics, what do you think unites the Communist Party of Cuba with the Communist Party of China?
CMP: First of all, I consider that one of the essential factors that has enabled our two parities to enjoy excellent ties of friendship and brotherhood has been the similar history that has united us over many years.
A common fact that jumps out in the histories of both parties has been their attachment to the people and national unity. Neither of the two parties were born from fracture, but rather from the unity of all deeply progressive and humanist political forces involved in the common struggle to win independence and fight against foreign dependence.
Both the Chinese and Cuban revolutions were heroic creations in order to first achieve and later maintain national sovereignty and independence. In the case of Cuba, this has included the fiercest siege and multidimensional war imposed by the United States after the revolutionary triumph in 1959.
For more than six decades, Cuba and China have managed to build a relationship based on trust, mutual support, equality, respect, and mutual benefit. The persistence in the construction of socialism with the characteristics of each country has been an essential component of the relations maintained between our parties.
Both countries have learned that only the strong and unified political leadership of the Communist Party can preserve the stability, harmony, and peaceful development of our countries in the face of external interference and aggression. The close and strategic communication and coordination maintained over matters of regional and international significance have guided our ties in the common effort to maintain world peace and stability and defend just causes, multilateralism, sovereignty, independence, and self-determination.
Cuba has always shown its unequivocal support for the one-China policy and its firm rejection of any action that threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. We have had, for our part, the sustained support of the Chinese government and people for the Cuban revolution, and in particular its fight against the U.S. blockade, which has been cruelly intensified even during the pandemic.
The deep and transparent political dialogue at the highest level and frequent exchanges of experience on the construction of socialism based on the conditions of each country which are held by both countries reflect the firm mutual trust between our parties and governments.
The exchange of experience on strategic issues, both political and economic, has promoted advancement towards higher stages of our bilateral relationship. An example of this has been the cooperation in the fight against COVID-19. In the midst of these exceptional circumstances, cooperation and strategic communication has been strengthened, ratifying mutual support in the most difficult moments. The ideals shared by both parties and governments of putting the people first and prioritizing solidarity and cooperation over the laws of the market constitute values that, as a whole, are possible thanks to socialism.
CT: A few months ago, after the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba was held, Presidents Xi Jinping and Miguel Díaz-Canel held a telephone conversation. What would you say was the most relevant aspect of that dialogue?
CMP: The telephone call between the top leaders of both countries which took place on May 6 had a significant connotation for bilateral party relations. The General Secretary of the CPC and President of China Xi Jinping congratulated his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, for his election as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and highlighted the legacy and teachings of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz at the helm of the Cuban party organization and his contributions to the development of Sino-Cuban ties.
The exchange ratified the confidence of the highest Chinese authorities in the capacity of the Communist Party of Cuba leadership in the construction of socialism with Cuban characteristics and the high importance and priority that they give to the development of bilateral ties.
The top Cuban leader briefed Xi on the results of the Eighth Party Congress and the goals that were set to comply with the approved resolutions. He expressed gratitude for China’s firm support for Cuba, including its timely assistance for our people’s fight against COVID-19. He also congratulated the Communist Party of China on the centennial of its founding, and highly praised the historic achievements made by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC during the past 100 years.
One of the most important aspects of the phone call, I think, was the ratification and commitment emphasized by both leaders to work together to continue promoting the ties of friendship and brotherhood between Cuba and China, which have been nurtured by the legacy of invaluable exchanges for several generations, and to advance the full and comprehensive development of bilateral ties based on the consensus reached by the leaders of both countries.
In the Central Report to the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba there was a recognition of the progress made by China in economic and social matters.
CT: Just a few weeks ago, you were in Ningde City (Fujian Province) attending a seminar on eliminating poverty in China. How do you evaluate the policy of eradicating extreme poverty carried out in China?
CMP: Our participation together with other ambassadors in Beijing in the Seminar on Poverty Alleviation, Development and Progress of Human Rights in China, held in Ningde City, Fujian Province, deepened our understanding and knowledge about the important experience of Ningde City in poverty alleviation, while providing us a comprehensive view of the human rights issue in China.
What has been achieved reaffirms the firm political will of the CPC, the Chinese leadership, and the entirety of Chinese society to fulfill their goals, not only in the current context of COVID-19, but throughout the process of reform and opening-up. This demonstrates the capacity of the CPC and the Chinese government to implement strategic policies in an integral way, by a well-planned approach and with the contributions of all state and non-state entities – political, economic, financial, social, business, ethnic, religious – based on the same objective.
Meeting the important strategic goal of eliminating extreme poverty and anticipating, in 10 years, the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda validates the effectiveness of successful strategic planning under the leadership of the CPC. President Xi’s governing agenda focuses on solving the needs of the people, raising the quality of life, resolving the imbalances in the level of development between rural and urban areas and between the western and eastern regions.
China’s achievements in its fight against poverty are an excellent example of the importance of pooling all possible efforts and resources in this regard. What China has achieved in this matter goes beyond a mere policy, it is a model to study for many countries in the world, because efforts are not only focused on the objective of achieving a statistic, but on promoting sustainability over time that go beyond the achievements.
Cuba and China, as two socialist countries, share common visions not only on the issue of poverty alleviation, but also on the promotion of human rights and the well-being of their population, by putting the lives of people first to guarantee that the people enjoy their fundamental rights.
Cuba, despite being a small country and under a hostile blockade imposed by the United States, persists in its efforts to materialize the economic and social goals that it has proposed in order to build an independent, sovereign, socialist nation which is also democratic, prosperous, and sustainable.
The Cuban revolution, under the leadership of Comrade Fidel Castro, invested early on in the development of social work that included the eradication of illiteracy, the proclamation of free and universal access to education, medical care, sports, the elimination of endemic diseases, massive vaccination campaigns, and the realization of profound agrarian reform.
Thanks to socialism, a state policy was promoted in support of science and technology, scientific research, environmental protection, and a deep internationalist sentiment. This is the foundation that has allowed us to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and be the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean with its own biotechnological infrastructure to develop five vaccine candidates.
The Cuban booth at the Guangdong 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Expo on September 24, 2020. VCG
CT: You have referred to biotechnology on more than one occasion as an exemplary sector within the cooperation between Cuba and China. How is the Pan-Corona Project, the initiative between Chinese and Cuban scientists to find a generic vaccine that protects against different types of coronavirus, proceeding?
CMP: Indeed, biotechnology is undoubtedly an exemplary sector with notable results within bilateral cooperation with more than 15 years of uninterrupted exchanges and with encouraging prospects.
After the first memorandum of cooperation signed in November 2004 in the presence of late Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro and Mr. Hu Jintao, then president of the People’s Republic of China, the communication mechanisms have continued to be perfected and consensuses have been built among the top leaders of both countries, reaffirming biotechnology as a strategic sector in our bilateral relations.
The trust placed by China in Cuban biotechnology has allowed for the achievements that we share today, which demonstrate the strengths of our cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Do not forget that it was the recombinant Interferon Alpha 2b from the Changchun Heber joint venture in the city of Chang-chun, Jilin Province, one of the 20 antivirals used by China in its health protocols that paved the way forward. It was also widely used by our country and many others in the rest of the world.
Today, in addition to the Jilin joint venture, we have two other joint ventures (BPL and Shandong Heber Lukang), as well as other projects under development that employ various cooperation models, which include distribution, licensing, and co-development agreements, as well as scientific collaboration through collaborative initiatives with local governments, scientific institutions, universities, and research and development (R&D) centers.
As a result of one of these models, the Joint Innovation Center for Cuba-China Biotechnology was established in the city of Yongzhou, Hunan Province, as an incubator for R&D projects to meet medical needs in three fundamental areas of biomedical research: cancer, neurology, and infectious diseases.
Regarding Pan-Corona, one of the six projects that this center is working on, I can confirm that it has already been approved by the respective authorities of each country.
It is an initiative that was proposed to the Chinese health authorities in February 2020, during the most critical stage of the pandemic. The project, developed jointly by Cuban and Chinese scientists, aims to produce a novel preventive vaccine candidate that protects not only against the current pathogen, but also has the potential to combat other types of lethal coronavirus.
The Pan-Corona Project seeks to develop a second-generation vaccine, based on the Cuban experience in the development of vaccines based on virus-like particles (VLPs), a platform used in Cuba for the development of both preventive and therapeutic vaccines against the hepatitis B virus.
Currently, progress continues in the experiment designed for the current stage of this project and in which renowned Cuban scientists from different specialties are involved.
CT: In March, on behalf of the Cuban government, you signed a memorandum of understanding on tourism cooperation with the China Tourism Academy. Until the outbreak of the pandemic, Cuba was the Caribbean country that received the most Chinese tourists (it went from 622 in 1994 to 42,767 in 2019, with a peak of almost 50,000 visitors in 2018). In that sense, how important will Chinese tourism be for Cuba during the post-pandemic period?
CMP: The memorandum of understanding signed between the Cuban Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR) and the China Tourism Academy is part of the strategy our two countries jointly implemented to raise cooperation in the tourism sector to new levels. Added to this strategy is the memorandum already signed in 2020 between MINTUR and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, both of which will lay the foundation for accelerated progress in positioning Cuba as a tourist destination for Chinese travelers.
China is the largest tourism source market worldwide and in recent years, it has become an important tourism source market for Cuba, reaching a peak in 2018, with 49,944 Chinese visitors. Undoubtedly, these agreements, and in particular the one signed with the Tourism Academy, will allow closer practical cooperation in this sector and promote the entry of Chinese tourists to our country in the short, medium, and long terms.
In the post-pandemic stage, we are also betting on Chinese tourism, based on the potential that exists between both countries in the sector, as well as the growing interest of Chinese travelers to visit Cuba, considered to be one of their most popular destinations in the Caribbean, and also get closer to our culture. That is why both countries have proposed to design a personalized strategy according to the characteristics of this market and based on their consumption priorities, which will allow us to adapt our tourism offers to the needs of Chinese visitors. This includes promoting Air China’s direct flight from Beijing to Havana, with a technical stopover in Montreal, which operates between the two cities since 2015, and also cooperation with other Chinese airlines and charter flights that operate in the Latin American region and the Caribbean. This will allow us to work on the multi-destination tourism with other countries in the region and place Cuba as a reference tourist destination for Chinese travelers in our geographical area.
To enhance that situation, Cuba is applying hygienic-sanitary measures and protocols in all tourist facilities in correspondence with what is established by the World Health Organization and the World Tourism Organization, as well as by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Tourism. Tourist facilities and services that comply with strict hygiene-sanitary and safety protocols are granted the Tourism + Hygienic and Safe Certification (T + HS), making Cuba a reliable and safe destination for Chinese travelers. More than 70 percent of these facilities are already certified.
The foregoing combined with the results obtained in Cuban biotechnology — being able to present five vaccine candidates against COVID-19 in different phases of clinical trials — will provide greater security to the destination. Cuba aspires to immunize the entire population in 2021, as well as any tourist who wishes to be immunized upon arrival in the country.
