The shipment reached after there were reports in the Latin American media that China is not standing by Cuba at this hour of crisis when President Donald Trump is seeking complete strangulation of the Cuban economy and threatening a regime change on the lines of Venezuela. There was criticism that President Xi Jinping did not take up the Cuba issue with vigour at his summit with President Trump in Beijing on May 14-15 this year.

China responded to this criticism by sending humanitarian aid to Havana and promising to send more supplies of essential food items which are needed for consumption by the Cuban people who are facing shortages of food items due to US blockade and sanctions on other countries .

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez on Sunday said Cuba had received the 15,000 tons of rice shipped from China, and hailed the close bilateral bonds of friendship and cooperation that are growing stronger at crucial moments.

In an X post on Sunday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that this important shipment, which arrived at the Port of Havana on Saturday, marks the beginning of a new donation totalling 60,000 tonnes, with the rest expected to gradually arrive in Cuba.

The Cuban president said that China's noble gesture of solidarity will reach millions of consumers across all provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud, as well as Cuba's health and educational institutions.

According to the Chinese Embassy, Cuban Vice Prime Minister Oscar Perez-OlivaFraga, on behalf of the Cuban government and people, thanked the Chinese government for continuously strengthening its support and assistance to Cuba under the current difficult circumstances, saying the Cuban people will always remember it.

Chinese Ambassador Hua said the food assistance shipment is an important part of China's package of support measures for Cuba and a concrete reflection of the two countries standing together and helping each other amid the current complex situation. China will firmly advance practical cooperation with Cuba and steadfastly support Cuba in safeguarding its sovereignty and national dignity.

Apart from China, on Saturday itself, Havana got another boost as the leaders of Mexico, Brazil and Spain pledged more aid to Cuba, while appealing for the island nation’s sovereignty to be respected amid an ongoing pressure campaign from United States President Donald Trump.

The joint statement on Saturday was released as leftist leaders from across the globe met in Barcelona. The three countries expressed “great concern about the serious humanitarian crisis that the people of Cuba are going through”.

The US has imposed a trade embargo on Cuba since Cold War tensions emerged in the 1960s. But the Trump administration has ratcheted up pressure on the island’s communist government, in an apparent attempt to prompt leadership change. Since January, Trump has barred the import of oil from Venezuela. He also threatened other countries with sanctions if they deliver oil to Cuba, leading to fuel shortages and energy blackouts.

In Saturday’s statement, the governments of Mexico, Spain and Brazil — represented by President Claudia Sheinbaum, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, respectively — warned against any actions that run “contrary to international law”. “We are committed to coordinating an increase in our humanitarian response, aimed at alleviating the suffering of the Cuban people,” the trio said.

While the statement did not directly reference the US, it called for respect for “territorial integrity, sovereign equality and peaceful settlement of disputes”, as outlined in the United Nations Charter. The three countries further said that any solution in Cuba must “ensure that it is the Cuban people themselves who decide their future in full freedom”.

Earlier this week, Trump again suggested the US could use military force against Cuba, saying his attention could turn to the island following the conclusion of the US-Israel war against Iran. “We may stop by Cuba after we finish with this,” he said. The Trump administration has repeatedly denied US policy has contributed to the humanitarian situation in Cuba, instead framing the crisis as the product of decades of economic mismanagement.

What is highly disturbing for the Cuban government is that the CIA director met some Army officials of the Cuban government and discussed the issue of regime change on the lines of Venezuela. The CIA has worked out a roadmap for bloodless coup in Cuba.USA feels that the deterioration of the economic crisis will force the people to rise against the Miguel government.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel, meanwhile, was defiant as he spoke on Thursday during a gathering marking the 65th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s declaration on the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution. “The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on April 16, 1961, to be ready to confront serious threats, including military aggression,” Diaz-Canel said. “We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it becomes inevitable, to defeat it.”

Globally, many international organisations are sending relief. But that is not enough to take care of the immediate needs. The big countries like China and Russia can take care of some of the energy requirements which Cuba desperately needs. That way, Chinese help is important but the Latin American sources say that not just humanitarian assistance, China as the second biggest economic power has to put some diplomatic and political pressure on Trump to withdraw the US blockade on Cuba. Only that withdrawal will bring back Cuban economy to health. (IPA Service)