North Korea has announced its support for Cuba, joining Russia, China, and Iran, as the United States supports large-scale demonstrations and accuses the island country’s ruling Communist Party of deficiencies in addressing the humanitarian needs intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A spokesperson for the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs argued in a press statement issued on Friday that “the anti-government protests in Cuba were the result of manipulation by external forces behind the scenes, coupled with their stubborn anti-Cuban blockade scheme. The elimination of socialism and revolution.”
Although the statement did not name the United States, it may indicate that the supreme leader Kim Jong Un Still interested in potential diplomacy with Washington, but clearly mentioned Washington’s long-term embargo on Havana.
The official said that North Korea “condemns and rejects attempts by external forces to use recent anti-government protests to overthrow the Cuban socialist system and interfere in internal affairs.”
The statement also said: “We fully support and support the Cuban government and people in all efforts and measures taken to safeguard national dignity and sovereignty, defend the motherland, and the achievements of revolution and socialism.” “We believe that Cuba will definitely crush the interference of foreign forces. , To overcome the current situation and firmly maintain the country’s political stability.”
North Korea is becoming more and more silent on international affairs, but the country has a long-term relationship with Cuba that can be traced back to the Cold War. Whether in the respective politics of the two countries or in the interaction with the United States, the Cold War still exists today.
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North Korea was formally established in 1948 under the leadership of Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, as a competitor to South Korea that was allied with the United States supported by the Soviet Union after World War II. Two opposing countries on the Korean peninsula went to war in the 1950s, leading to a deadlock that still exists in the form of a ceasefire but no formal peace.
Later in the same decade, the Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro led the successful 1959 uprising globally, which eventually led to the Soviet Union becoming the first ally in the Western Hemisphere, only 90 miles from the coast of the United States.
A year later, Havana and Pyongyang quickly established relations, and the two countries will continue to strengthen economic and military relations, and even provide mutual support for conflicts in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. However, the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s also brought great difficulties to Cuba and North Korea, even though they have persisted to the present through different methods and means under the continuous pressure of the United States.
Although Cuba gave up its desire for nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union’s attempt to deploy weapons of mass destruction led to a confrontation between the United States and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. One year after the failure of the CIA-supported invasion of the island, North Korea continued to develop nuclear weapons. . It considers an arsenal of weapons vital to its survival. This stock has always been condemned and sanctioned globally, and the United States has largely maintained its economic restrictions on Cuba alone, and Cuba has often received the international community’s support for calls to lift the embargo.
Since taking office in January, the president Joe Biden Attempts to review U.S. policies towards Cuba and North Korea have changed dramatically during the terms of the first two presidents.
Former president Barack ObamaAs Vice President, Biden initiated the historic thaw of relations with Cuba, including the relaxation of the decades-long embargo.His successor, former president Donald Trump These measures were cancelled and a landmark diplomacy with North Korea was carried out, although efforts to exchange denuclearization for peace and sanctions relief agreements eventually stalled.
The Biden administration has raised the possibility of providing support to the two countries because the two countries are dealing with the economic prospects that have deteriorated due to the pandemic. However, when it comes to Cuba, the ongoing policy review has become complicated because of rare protests that have recently erupted, and Washington has used these protests to criticize Havana.
The Presidential Announcement issued on Friday to commemorate the White House’s so-called “Captive Countries Week” did not mention North Korea, but instead targeted Cuba as well as Belarus, China, Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Russia.
“We heard those who rejected military rule in Myanmar, resisted the dictatorship in Venezuela, took to the streets in Cuba and demanded freedom under brutal national repression, and the determination of Tatars in Nicaragua and Crimea to fight for free and fair elections, ethnic Ukrainians and Other ethnic and religious minorities who have been suppressed because of their opposition to Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea,” the statement said.
In a Cold War commentary a day ago, Biden and the White House press secretary Jean Psaki Announcing that “Communism is a failed system”, the President made further demands on Cuba in a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Biden said: “Unfortunately, Cuba is a failed country and suppresses its citizens.” “We will consider doing a lot of things to help the Cuban people, but this requires different circumstances or guarantees that they will not be used by the government. For example, It is possible to send remittances back to Cuba. I will not do this now because the fact is that the regime is very likely to confiscate these remittances or large sums of money.”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was the first person outside the Castro family to lead the country as the head of state and the Communist Party. He acknowledged the need to “critically analyze our problems in order to take action. And to overcome and avoid repetition,” and to respond to the demands of some protesters by lifting restrictions on passengers carrying some food, medicines and other necessities.
At the same time, he firmly demanded that the United States be responsible for the deliberate destruction of the Cuban economy through the embargo, and called on Biden to reverse the austerity policy of his predecessor.
Diaz-Canel said on Twitter on Friday: “If President Joseph Biden is sincerely concerned about the Cuban people, he can cancel the 243 measures taken by President Donald Trump, including More than 50 measures were brutally implemented during the epidemic as the first step forward. End the blockade.”
He also refuted Biden’s description of Cuba as a “failed country”, claiming that “the failed country is to please a reactionary and blackmailed minority, and can extend the damage to 11 million people, ignoring their wishes. Most Cubans, Americans and the international community.”
EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP/Getty Images
Former Cold War ally Russia also criticized the role played by the Biden administration in the recent unrest in Cuba. Moscow officials issued a number of statements attacking Washington’s position.
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the United States of Attempt to carry out a “color revolution” By “strangling the country, discriminating against the people, and undermining the economy,” it then provokes tension from within.
Zakharova said that Moscow called for “Washington to finally take an objective stand, get rid of political hypocrisy and secret agendas, and let the Cubans, their governments and people handle the situation and determine their destiny.”
“If Washington really cares about the humanitarian situation in Cuba and wants to help ordinary Cubans,” she added, “They need to start by themselves and lift the blockade, which has been opposed by the entire international community from the beginning.”
Last month, the United Nations The UN General Assembly voted for the 29th consecutive time to condemn the US embargo against Cuba.
China, one North Korea’s ally with Russian strategic partnerRecently, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian mentioned this resolution in his speech at the press conference. Zhao asserts He believes that “the US embargo is the root cause of the shortage of medicines and energy in Cuba” and accuses Washington of inciting instability in this communist country.
“China firmly opposes foreign interference in Cuba’s internal affairs, firmly supports Cuba’s efforts to combat COVID-19, improve people’s livelihood, and maintain social stability, and firmly supports Cuba in exploring development paths that suit its national conditions,” Zhao said on Tuesday. “I want to emphasize that China is willing to work with Cuba to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and is firmly committed to deepening the friendly relations between the two countries.”
Beijing has provided economic assistance to some countries that have been sanctioned by the United States and regards Havana as a key node in the expansion of the intercontinental, investment-driven “Belt and Road” initiative to the Western Hemisphere.
Faced with the economic constraints of the United States, another key country that sees China as a lifeline is Iran, which has joined the national chorus that represents Cuba.
Said Khatibzad, spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters on Tuesday: “Under such circumstances, the United States should be primarily responsible for the many problems caused by the Cuban people. It is trying to appear in support of the Cuban protests. Attempting to blatantly violate international rules and interfere in the internal affairs of this country.”
While Obama sought reconciliation with Cuba in 2015, he also signed a multilateral agreement with Iran backed by China and Russia, and European UnionIn the same year, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom provided sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. But Trump also cancelled these measures, which still exist today under Biden’s leadership, and Biden’s officials are negotiating a possible rejoining of the Austrian capital Vienna.
Khatibzad said that Iran “while condemning the illegal sanctions imposed by the United States as an important factor in the economic difficulties of the Cuban people, it also condemns any interference in the internal affairs of this country and a country facing illegal and oppressive sanctions by the United States. “
Cuba has joined China, Iran, North Korea and Russia, as well as the observer states of Algeria, Angola, Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, Eritrea, Laos, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, Venezuela and the State of Palestine (a non-member of the United Nations) “Group of Friends to Defend the UN Charter”.
The main principles of the alliance include “non-interference in the internal affairs of countries, peaceful settlement of disputes, and non-use or threat of use of force to violate the territorial integrity or political independence of any country, as stipulated by the UN Charter.”
March, “Circle of Friends” Present Weekly newspaper The following concept note was reiterated in a virtual release earlier this month, with representatives from each member state participating in this.
