[A-List] Cuba and China

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What says the NGO and Civil Society crowd?
Beware of Chinese exploitation?


Cuba to buy more vehicles from China

In upcoming weeks, some of these will go into service
for inter-provincial travel between Havana and Pinar del Río

BY MARIA JULIA MAYORAL Granma daily staff writer

CUBA is negotiating the purchase of approximately 8,000 vehicles from
the People's Republic of China, President Fidel Castro informed after
announcing that in upcoming weeks, 30 buses from that Asian nation
will go into service to transport passengers between Havana and Pinar
del Río.

Cuba to buy more vehicles from ChinaFidel made his comments during an
official ceremony for the delivery of the new Chinese buses and spared
no praise for those vehicles, which he described as excellent due to
their fuel efficiency, comfort and quality/price relationship. He also
noted the seriousness, rigor, and agility in meeting contracts by the
Yutong consortium, the largest bus-maker in China and in the world at
this time, which supplied these vehicles and with whom additional
contracts are to be signed.

The Cuban president made similar comments regarding the 12 Chinese
2,500-horsepower locomotives that recently arrived in the country.
"These are machines with the most modern technology, their cost is
lower than that of similar ones manufactured in the United States, and
they run two kilometers further than the American ones on the same
amount of fuel," he noted.

"These realities help us to appreciate the great symbolism of what
China and its companies represent for the development of
transportation in Cuba, which is now definitively leaving the Special
Period behind," he added.

Fidel remarked on the type of economic relations that the island and
the Asian nation are strengthening on the basis of mutual interests.
"Those are the growing ties between a giant country like China and a
small one like ours, which the yankee empire is trying to destroy."

"The world can observe the differences between that powerful empire
bent on crushing our Revolution and bringing us to our knees, and the
stance of solidarity and fraternity of a great nation like China, with
an ancient culture more than 2,000 years old, a population 125 times
larger than ours, and territory that is 80 times that of Cuba's," he
said. "This is a nation that with extraordinary heroism was able to
free itself from the yoke that the imperialists attempted to place on
it and which today, based on the principles of social justice, has
become the main motor force of the global economy in a period of just
20 to 25 years."

The Revolutionary leader explained that the improvement of
inter-provincial transport will continue in the eastern provinces of
Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Holguín and Las Tunas, and it is
being studied whether or not to include Camagey in this initial stage.

He explained that ticket prices will go up, given that they are now
virtually free when compared with the cost of the service; despite the
anticipated increase, they will still be between seven and eight times
cheaper than the prices charged by private drivers. The state, he
added, will subsidize 20% of the cost of travel, and 80% will be
shouldered by citizens.

Given the Special Period, state transport has been very depressed and
those who exploit the people have taken advantage of that by charging
high prices for the use of their private vehicles, he noted. "However,
today we are in a situation to change old ideas, achieving a more just
distribution and making a greater effort for those who live honorably."

Currently, there are 800 Yutong buses in Cuba, some of which arrived
assembled and some of which have been assembled in a plant in
Guanajay, in La Habana province. At that facility, conditions are
being prepared to increase the number of buses assembled per day from
three to six. In addition, a factory is being outfitted in the capital
where up to nine buses per day may be assembled, Fidel noted.

The idea is to put almost 600 buses into service for inter-provincial
transport in the next few months, and to subsequently reinforce
inter-municipal routes, he affirmed.

"There are also offers" and we are studying them "to bring train
cars for passengers and for moving fuel, food and construction
materials," Fidel said. In addition, more than 1,000 train cars have
been repaired in Cuba to date.

About 200 cars will be purchased for fuel, 100 for food and 200 for
passenger transport, but the latter will be used only for
long-distance travel; that is, for now, they will be used to move
citizens between the capital and eastern provinces. For short-distance
trips, buses are more economical, he added.

Between new vehicles and the re-outfitting of buses and trucks, the
country is to spend $1 billion, without including spending on train
locomotives and cars, the Cuban president explained. He reiterated the
importance of conservation and the rational use of all fuel and
electric energy as the main sources of material and financial
resources for the nation.

The president made his remarks during the official ceremony at the
Ministry of Transport, which included the presence of Ralph Gonsalves,
prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who was invited by
Fidel to participate in this special ceremony to deliver the new
Yutong buses.

Others who spoke during the ceremony included Tang Yuxiang, president
of Yutong Bus Co.; Hu Quan, vice president of the city of Zhengzhou in
Henan province, where one of the company’s factories is located; and
Zhao Rongxian, Chinese ambassador to Cuba. They praised their
fraternal relations with Cuba and its people, confirmed their interest
in continuing to increase trade ties, and emphasized their commitment
to contributing decisively to the improvement of Cuba’s transport
system. Rafael Hurtado Zamor spoke on behalf of transport sector
workers; he is a member of the contingent that, because of its
professionalism and discipline, will be in charge of driving the new
buses.

Before the event began, Fidel and Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of
St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Carlos Manuel Pazo, Cuban minister of
transport; and members of the Chinese delegation toured the Ministry’s
parking lot to get a close-up view of the different types of buses
purchased.