China Ambassador Tells Cuba’s State Media the Market Plays a ‘Decisive Role’ in Growth
DIPLOMACY · CUBA
Key Facts
- —The country Cuba, a one-party state with a largely centrally planned economy, in deep electricity crisis since mid-2024 (EFE). China is its main trading partner, the ambassador said.
- —What happened On 29 September 2026 China’s ambassador, Hua Xin, told the state site Cubadebate’s podcast that China gives the market a “decisive role” within socialism.
- —The numbers Per Hua on 29 September: 35 MW of China-backed solar synchronised in 2025, 85 MW in 15 parks due in October, first materials in for a 200 MW solar-and-storage project.
- —What it means for you Beijing’s help is arriving as solar parks and household kits, not as cash or cover from US sanctions. Blackout relief depends on the grid absorbing that power.
- —Still open Whether the 15 parks are finished in October, when the 200 MW project connects, and whether Havana takes any of the market advice.
The China ambassador in Havana, Hua Xin, used a Cuban state media interview to explain how a communist-run country grew rich. Speaking to a Cuban state audience, he credited the market with a “decisive role”.
The conversation opened the second season of “Es la Idea”, a Cubadebate podcast, published on Tuesday 29 September. The independent Cuban outlet 14ymedio read it on Wednesday as a lesson in market economics delivered to the regime’s own media.
What the ambassador said
Cubadebate says the episode asked how China sees global governance and what explains the success of its reform. It was hosted by Randy Alonso, the site’s director, with the television journalist Arleen Rodríguez Derivet.
According to 14ymedio’s account of the recording, Hua described three pillars: Communist Party leadership, opening to the world, and a market economy. Each party, he said, must adapt to its own country.
He quoted President Xi Jinping: October’s revolutionary wind reached China, “but the Communist Party of China did not become a Soviet party”. He called it imperative to “give full play to the decisive role of the market”.
That formula is standard doctrine, adopted by China’s Communist Party in 2013. He also urged “fully respecting the initiative of the people” so they become “the protagonist of the reform”.
How 14ymedio read it
The headline framing is 14ymedio’s own interpretation. Hua did not tell Havana what to do, and nothing in the published remarks mentions Cuban policy directly.
The outlet argued the message still landed pointedly in Cuba. It noted that Alonso raised China’s early focus on food production, which 14ymedio says Havana has neglected in practice.
Havana has been widening room for private business on its own terms. It says US sanctions slow that shift, as covered in Cuba Says US Sanctions Are Holding Back Its Opening to Private Business.
The concrete aid: solar power and rice
The China ambassador was firmest on electricity: “China is making maximum efforts to help Cuba,” Hua said, according to both EFE and 14ymedio.
He said 35 megawatts of China-backed solar parks were synchronised in 2025. Another 85 MW, split into 15 parks, should be finished in October.
He called the arrival of the first materials for a 200 MW solar generation and storage project “the most important” news. He also cited two donations of household solar systems, including 5,000 units that arrived last week.
EFE notes Havana plans 92 solar parks of about 2,000 MW in total. The fragile grid cannot yet use that fully, as the September grid failure showed.
According to 14ymedio, Hua added that the final shipment of the 60,000 tonnes of rice China promised has arrived. “Surely Cuban families have tried Chinese rice,” he joked.
Words on sanctions, not measures
Asked about the US embargo, Hua said China has “consistently and firmly opposed” unilateral sanctions without basis in international law. He urged Washington to end “all hostile actions” against Cuba, EFE reported.
14ymedio judged that the China ambassador offered no step that would put Beijing at odds with Washington. Hua himself said he lives with “the blackout and the lack of water, every day”, like Cubans.
What Is Not Yet Known
Cubadebate published the interview as audio and video without a transcript. The market quotes rest on 14ymedio’s transcription and have not been independently confirmed.
No date has been given for connecting the 200 MW project. It is also unclear whether Cuban officials will respond to the China ambassador’s description of China’s model.
Sources: Cubadebate, “En estreno, Podcast ‘Es la Idea’ con Hua Xin, embajador de China en Cuba”, 29 September 2026; 14ymedio, “El embajador chino en La Habana da una clase de economía de mercado a ‘Cubadebate’”, 30 September 2026; EFE via OnCubaNews, “Embajador chino reitera que Pekín ‘no se queda de brazos cruzados’ ante la crisis en Cuba”, 30 September 2026.
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