Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel attended a military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, accompanied by his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza.
The parade marked the 80th anniversary of V-J (Victory over Japan) day and the end of the Second World War. The event demonstrated the full strength of China’s armed forces as it saw 15,000 Chinese troops march through central Beijing with more than 160 military aircraft flying overhead.
An arsenal of hypersonic and nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, underwater drones, laser weapons and robot dogs were also on display at the parade.
Other world leaders in attendance included Russian President Vladimir Putin, Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong Un and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Díaz-Canel praised the Chinese government and military on social media, thanking his hosts for their hospitality and reiterating the strength of the Chinese-Cuban alliance.
“Today China leads a battle to rescue multilateralism and global governance,” Díaz-Canel posted on X, adding that “Cuba is honored to attend the commemoration of #victoryday.”
Rows of Chinese troops stand at attention during the parade
Image Source: China Daily via X
The parade has been widely touted as a symbolic challenge to the U.S. and the traditional American-led post-war world order. Posting on the Trump-owned Truth Social media platform, President Donald Trump claimed that the national leaders attending the parade were “conspir[ing] against the U.S.”.
The Cuban leader’s inclusion in this supposed anti-Western grouping should come as no surprise, as Díaz-Canel has recently cultivated deeper partnerships between Cuba and traditional adversaries of the U.S.- especially China.
This year, Cuba became a partner country of the sinophile BRICS coalition, an international organisation – of which China is a founding member – that seeks to reduce reliance on the American dollar and challenge western political and economic hegemony.
The Cuban head of state’s visit also comes amidst reports of increasing military cooperation between Havana and Beijing.
Ryan Berg, the director of the Americas Program at the American Think Tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), recently testified before a congressional subcommittee of Homeland Security regarding the deepening ties between Cuba and China in the field of military intelligence and surveillance.
Berg told the committee that “CSIS [had] positively identified four specific facilities [in Cuba] as highly likely sites supporting Chinese intelligence operations targeting the United States.”
Chinese ambassador to Cuba Hua Xin welcomes President Díaz-Canel and his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza to Beijing on September 2nd, the day before the parade
Image Source: Hua Xin via X
Though officials of the governing Cuban Communist Party (PCC) refute these claims, both nations have recently proclaimed their mutual commitment to “deepen[ing] cooperation across the board” and “develop[ing] joint projects in the areas of biotechnology … renewable energies … [and] national capacities.”
Díaz-Canel’s Chinese visit is the latest stop of the Cuban leader’s tour of East Asia. On August 31 he arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam and subsequently attended the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Vietnamese proclamation of independence on September 2nd. The president is also scheduled to visit Laos.
Featured Image: A bust commemorating Cuban independence hero José Martí in Havana’s Barrio Chino
Image Credit: Carol M. Highsmith Archive via picryl
License: Creative Commons Licenses
