Chinese friends

The official Chinese newsagency, Xinhua, has confirmed that the Asian giant has now become the Castro regime’s second most important trading partner – after Venezuela.

According to this report, enthusiastically headlined “Made-in-China products shine in Cuba”, trade between the two countries grew by nearly 31 per cent in the period between January and October this year.

During that time, China exported goods to Cuba worth USD921 million – mostly domestic appliances, transport and communications goods – while Cuban exports to China amounted to USD948 million.

Not surprisingly, the article states that “the two countries are enjoying one of the best times of their 47-year long diplomatic relationship”.

It’s certainly a long way from the so-called “rice wars” of the mid 1960s, when Fidel Castro tried to gain favour with his Moscow paymasters by blaming the Chinese for failing to provide his regime with the amount of rice he said they had promised.

The Chinese leadership, which was then engaged in a nasty ideological war with the Soviets over control of the Third World "revolutionary" movement, described Castro as a liar.