In which China tells Cuba that it should stop being so communist if it wants to succeed:

China publicly supports Cuba’s right to choose its own path to economic development “in line with its national conditions”, but privately Chinese officials have long urged the Cuban leadership to shift from its vertically planned economy to something closer to the Chinese model, according to economists and diplomats briefed on the situation.

Chinese officials have been perplexed and frustrated at the Cuban leadership’s unwillingness to decisively implement a market-oriented reform programme despite the glaring dysfunction of the status quo, the people said.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    24·
    1 month ago

    It just baffles me that China still gets away with the “we’re communist” narrative. They’re clearly not. They’re authoritarian, and rather socialist, but they’re also quite capitalistic at this point.

    • kent_ehEnglish
      5·
      1 month ago

      How many countries that claimed they were communist ever really fit the actual definition?

      I can’t think of one.

    • 00x0xx@lemmy.worldEnglish
      31·
      1 month ago

      It’s not “China” that get’s away with anything, but the Western media that’s branding them as “Communist” as a form of derogatory propaganda to mark them a copy cat of the USSR.

      Right from beginning China has always called themselves “PRC”. People’s Republic of China. They are a dictatorial republic akin of Cesar’s Roman Empire, with a government structure based off communist ideology. But their economic policy have always shifted with the times, it was similar to the USSR when they were the fastest growing economy, and now similar to the US.

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
    8·
    1 month ago

    sorta surpising to me. its super cheap to support them and they are a nice needle for the US. Its why russia did for so long but russia is now sorta a cluster F now.

  • WanderingVentra@lemm.eeEnglish
    82·
    1 month ago

    They’ve already done a bunch of opening of market reforms. I think the most important is thing the US ends the embargo.

    • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      8·
      1 month ago

      Maybe not even the embargoes but that terrorist definition is keeping Cuba out of most of the banking systems and it’s pretty stupid.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      1 month ago

      Can’t.

      Florida is a swing state, and it’s absolutely packed with Cuban exiles who are single issue voters.

      This is the problem with using exile as a tool to cleanse yourself of dissent, that dissent has to go somewhere, and it went to somewhere much stronger and festered :(

      • WanderingVentra@lemm.eeEnglish
        51·
        1 month ago

        They didn’t exile people so much as people left because they got their slaves and businesses taken away. Then, the embargo made economic conditions terrible which encouraged more people to leave. The alternative is not letting people leave, which seems worse.

        And I don’t think Florida is a swing state anymore unfortunately =( I’ll eat my words if it changes this election season, but I haven’t seen it change in a long time. Democrats need to give up on it. The demographics have changed too much with all the old people moving there.

        • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          So I actually kind of agree, but we’re not quite there yet.

          Hopefully by 2028 everyone accepts Florida is just a part of the rest of the backwards south and let’s them go, but until then we’re still in thrall with the angry bastards.

          • WanderingVentra@lemm.eeEnglish
            3·
            1 month ago

            I was kind of hoping I’m wrong because of Covid clearing out so many old people in that area lol, but it doesn’t look like I am this election season at least. 😔

            But, I’m also curious if the continuous climate disasters will ever make that place a less alluring location to move or retire to, which could also help the voting demographics 🤔 But like you said, that’s kind of another “in time” thing.

  • rc__buggy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    82·
    1 month ago

    Well, three years of legal market economy businesses under their belt, it seems that quite a bit of inertia remains. I don’t know what’s up with their sugar crops, sucks they have failed lately. IMO Cuba should bring in some outside investment, probably from China, and like the Chinese are telling them… stop being so damn vertical. That shit doesn’t work long term.

    Looks like hurricane Oscar just hit them today, I hope they ask for and receive emergency assistance. The people are going to need it.