ISTANBUL
China on Monday extended support to Cuba after US President Donald Trump said the Latin American nation would no longer receive oil or financial support from Venezuela.
Beijing “firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding its national sovereignty and security and opposes external interference,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in the Chinese capital.
“We once again urge the US to stop blockade, sanctions and coercion against Cuba at once and act in a way conducive to regional peace and stability,” said Mao.
The statement from Beijing came after Trump, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday, said that for years the island nation had relied on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela in return for providing security services to Venezuelan leaders, but said the arrangement has ended.
“There will be no more oil or money going to Cuba — zero!” he wrote.
Trump claimed that many Cubans involved in security operations in Venezuela were killed during the recent US military operation, adding that Venezuela no longer needs protection from what he described as criminal groups that had “held them hostage for many years.”
He also urged Cuba to seek a new deal, warning that it should act “before it is too late.”
On Jan. 7, days after the Venezuela operation during which the US captured President Nicholas Maduro, Trump named Cuba among possible future targets of his administration, saying the Caribbean nation “is ready to fall.”
Cuba’s president blamed the US for the country’s deep economic hardships, rejecting criticism and insisting it remains fully sovereign in the face of decades of pressure.
“Those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba,” Miguel Diaz-Canel said on US social media company X, arguing that the island’s economic suffering stems from US' “extreme strangulation” policies imposed for more than six decades.
"Cuba is a free, independent, and sovereign nation. No one dictates what we do," he added.