Beijing: 24 July 2021 (TDI): Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China firmly supports the efforts of the Cuban government and people to maintain social stability, in a regular press conference on Friday.
This was said in response to a question asking for China’s comments on the US Treasury Department’s announcement of the imposition of sanctions on Cuba’s Minister of Revolutionary Armed Forces and other officials and institutions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and US’s attempts to garner support among other countries to either sign a joint statement or issue a statement in national capacity in condemning Cuba.
Lijian said China resolutely rejects any external interference in other countries internal affairs, imposition of unilateral sanctions, and attempt to gang up on other countries under the pretext of “freedom”, “democracy” and “human rights”. As Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla suggests, the US “should rather apply unto itself the Magnitsky Global Act for systematic repression & police brutality that took the lives of 1021 persons in 2020”. The US should first and foremost examine its own human rights issues, instead of wielding the big stick of sanctions, grossly interfering in other’s internal affairs, and creating division or confrontation.
He said China maintains that mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation are the right way to conduct state-to-state relations. At present, Cuba is at a critical moment in its fight against COVID-19 and in its efforts to alleviate people’s suffering. The US must immediately and completely lift unilateral sanctions against Cuba in compliance with the purposes of the UN Charter and basic norms governing international relations, and do more to improve US-Cuba relations and contribute to international and regional stability.
