China denounced fresh threats of military aggression against Cuba issued by the Donald Trump administration in the context of the US Department of Justice’s indictment of its former president Raúl Castro.

Calling it an “abuse of judicial means to exert pressure on Cuba,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun, during a regular press conference on Thursday, May 21, questioned the legitimacy of such proceedings in international law.

One of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution, general in the army, and former president of the nation Raúl Castro (94), was indicted by the US Department of Justice on Wednesday for “conspiracy and murder” during the downing of two private aircrafts in Cuban airspace in 1996. Castro was then the minister of the country’s Armed Forces.

Cuba has maintained that the two aircrafts in question were flying in the country’s airspace illegally and their presence was endangering the country’s national defenses. The aircrafts owned by a “terrorist organization” were shot down only after they failed to respond to multiple warnings issued and it was an act of self-defense under Cuba’s rights of territorial integrity.

The Trump administration has demanded Castro to surrender and face trial in the US. Cuba has called the indictment a pretext to launch military aggression against the country and an extension of the decades long economic blockade.

Read more: Cuba condemns US indictment of Raúl Castro as pretext for aggression

China reiterated that “unilateral sanctions or judicial proceedings do not have any validity in international politics.”

It claimed that it has consistently and firmly opposed “unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law or authorization of the UN Security Council” and asked the US to “stop brandishing sanctions or judicial proceedings at Cuba and stop resorting to the threat of force at every turn.”

“China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding its sovereignty and national dignity and opposing external interference,” Guo underlined.

China has been consistent in its support to Cuba. Since January this year it has sent over 60,000 tonnes of rice and provided over USD 80 million in emergency aid. It has also installed hundreds of megawatt of solar energy panels across the island to beat the regular disruptions in power services caused by the US blockade on energy supplies to the country.

Solidarity from South Asia

Social and political movements in South Asia have come out and expressed their solidarity and support to Cuba and its people facing unprecedented attacks from the imperialist power.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued a statement on Friday titled “Cuba is not alone” condemning the “shocking and illegal indictment of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution,” Raúl Castro.

“This is a cynical political move without any legal basis and clearly stems from the inability of imperialism to break the will of the Cuban people who, despite tremendous suffering from the recent intensification of the economic blockade, have rallied together in defense of their Revolution,” the statement says.

CPI (M) called for greater popular mobilization against the repeated US aggressions against Cuba.

The Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP) in neighboring Pakistan also issued a statement expressing its firm support and solidarity with Cuba.

“No one in the world believes the ridiculous claims of these self-appointed “guardians of the free world,” MKP said.

MKP asserted that the US blockade on Cuba “has nothing to do with democracy, the freedom of the Cuban people, or the protection of American citizens. It has only one purpose: to strangle the Cuban Revolution and reimpose American colonial domination over Cuba, just as they are attempting to do with Venezuela.”

MKP rejected the indictment of Raúl Castro “one of the architects of the Cuban Revolution, and a steadfast defender of socialism” calling it yet another attempt by the US to exert its imperialist pressure on Cuba to capitulate.

The MKP statement says that it believes that the Cuban cause is based on truth and justice, and its only “crime” is to seek an independent course of action in order to keep Cuban people, its land, and its resources “free from American imperialist exploitation and colonial domination.”

Ammar Ali Jan, leader of the Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (HKP) reminded the Pakistani government of the crucial intervention made by the Cuban doctors during the devastating earthquake in 2000 under Raúl’s leadership and demanded that it stand with Cuba, now facing assaults from US imperialism.

Sharif Shamshir, an activist of the Workers Party of Bangladesh (WPB), claimed that the so-called indictment of Raúl Castro is yet another attack on the Cuban Revolution. He said it is a sign that the Trump administration does not believe in any law or code of conduct in international politics.

He claimed that the US is guided by the rules of the jungle in threatening to kidnap Castro, as they did with Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.

He called on all democratic forces in the world to stand with Cuba and protest the imperialist aggression otherwise this will become a “norm” for most countries in the Global South.

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