On the morning of October 9, Xin Xiangyang, Party Secretary and President of the Academy of Marxism of the CASS, met with the Cuban Ambassador to China, Alberto Jesús Blanco Silva and his entourage at the Academy of Marxism. Lin Jianhua, Vice-President of the Academy of Marxism, chaired the meeting. Lin Jianhua expressed the welcome to the visit of the delegation, and presented in detail the functions and positioning of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; the founding history, organization setup, platform construction, building of talent team, etc., of the Academy of Marxism; and the development of integrated construction of research and education, discipline construction, and cultivation of talents between the Academy of Marxism and School of Marxism of University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Ambassador Blanco expressed the pleasure and honor he felt for visiting the Academy of Marxism. He firstly gave a brief review of the history of the development of China and Cuba, and emphasized his belief that the socialist system is indestructible. He spoke highly of the CPC’s ability to adapt Marxist theories to the Chinese context and to promote the CPC’s self-building, and recognized China’s important contributions to the promotion of global development in terms of both theoretical and practical aspects. The Ambassador compared the similar experiences and policy proposals of the leaders of China and Cuba, and shared his own experience with President Xi Jinping. The Ambassador expressed his hope to have in-depth exchanges with the scholars of the Academy of Marxism on the experience of small and medium-sized enterprise development and the internationalization of the RMB in the future, and hoped to have more direct and in-depth exchanges and cooperation with Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era of the CASS.

Alberto Jesús Blanco Silva, Cuban Ambassador to China, making a speech

President Xin Xiangyang welcomed Ambassador Blanco and his entourage to the Academy of Marxism and said he felt close friendship with the Cuban comrades. He pointed out that socialist constructions in both China and Cuba have been going on for a long time which have their own characteristics as well as common features. China’s socialist construction, especially since the reform and opening up and the entry into the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, has accumulated several important experiences, namely, always emphasizing adherence to the overall leadership of the CPC, always emphasizing theoretical innovation, always adhering to the people-centered development concept, always adhering to being pioneering and innovative, and always adhering to embracing the whole world and emphasizing the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. President Xin Xiangyang emphasized that the Academy of Marxism should further strengthen its ties and exchanges with the communist parties of other countries, progressive people who adhere to Marxism and so on, so as to jointly promote the long-lasting development of the cause of socialism.

Xin Xiangyang, Party Secretary and President of the Academy of Marxism, delivering a keynote speech

Mario Alzugaray Rodríguez, Deputy Head of Embassy of Cuba in China, Javier Navarro Quiñones, First Secretary of Embassy of Cuba in China, Gao Hong, the Interpretor, Chen Zhigang, Vice President of the Academy of Marxism, and He Qin, Director of the research unit attended the meeting.

President Xin Xiangyang presenting gifts for Ambassador Blanco and taking photos with the guests

(Provided by Xie Nuo)