Fidel Castro on the People's Republic of China

Fidel Castro on the Great Wall of China, 1995

Comrade Castro on the People's Republic of China:

"China is no longer the China of the feudal lords, nor the constant victim of the aggressions of colonial and imperial powers. This is the new China that emerges from the victorious national liberation struggle and the socialist revolution, exploits unsurpassed in human history. Everything was carried out under the immortal ideas of Marxism-Leninism and their wise application to China’s conditions. The path China has had to travel following liberation has been long, difficult, and risky in a world where imperialism exercised and still exercises power and hegemonic influence. Colossal successes have been attained. The era of disasters and famines has been left behind. Only socialism could have been capable of the miracle of feeding; clothing; providing with jobs, education, and healthcare; raising life expectancy to 70; and providing decorous shelter for more than 1 billion human beings in a minute portion of the planet’s arable land. Thanks to such a feat at this difficult time for the world’s peoples, over one-fifth of humanity remains under the banner of socialism." -- 1993

"I think China is a socialist country, and Vietnam is a socialist nation as well. And they insist that they have introduced all the necessary reforms in order to motivate national development and to continue seeking the objectives of socialism." -- 1994

"Socialism will definitively remain the only real hope of peace and survival of our species. This is precisely what the Communist Party and the people of the People's Republic of China have irrefutably demonstrated. They demonstrated at the same time, as Cuba and other brotherly countries have shown, that each people must adapt their strategy and revolutionary objectives to the concrete conditions of their own country and that there are not two absolutely equal socialist revolutionary processes. From each of them, you can take the best experiences and learn from each of their most serious mistakes.

The Chinese process counted, in addition, with the contributions of great and brilliant political thinkers, who continued to develop and enrich the doctrines of socialism.

China has objectively become the most promising hope and the best example for all Third World countries. I do not hesitate to say that it is already the main engine of the world economy. In what time? In only 83 years after the foundation of its glorious Communist Party and 55 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The relations between China and Cuba are today an example of transparency and peaceful collaboration between two nations that hold the ideals of socialism.

Today there is not only a solid basis for the development of relations between the two countries, but also a greater political will to deepen them, continue to expand them, and defend the noble cause of socialism, unity among peoples and respect for the principles of international right.

The role that China has been playing in the United Nations Organization, including the Security Council, is an important element of balance, progress and safeguard of world peace and stability." -- 2014