Cuba and China: Governance and Industrial Collaboration

Abstract

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cuban government has sought to diversify its foreign economic partnerships. Cooperation with China has emerged as a critical avenue of trade and investment in conventional sectors like nickel and tourism, but also in more innovative operations like the domestic assembly of vehicles and electronic consumer goods. Designed and implemented through governmental channels rather than the private sector, these initiatives reflect unconventionally long-term economic goals and a broadly conceived plan of inter-industry coordination. While collaboration with China has improved certain aspects of daily life in Cuba such as access to public transport and electrodomestic products, critics argue that neither country, whether independently or in league, sufficiently exercises good governance and transparency in political and economic affairs. Drawing on data gathered during three years of research in Cuba and one year in China, the article suggests that international advocates of good governance face two challenges: first, to reduce local suspicions that their efforts are politically self-serving, and second, to develop conceptions of governance and transparency that are nuanced enough to accommodate the unconventional characteristics of Sino-Cuban collaboration.