This good sports visit was missing
Havana, june 3, 2025.- The President of the Republic of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez described Gao Zhidan, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Director of the General Administration of Sports and President of the Olympic Committee of the Asian giant, as “a very significant visit” to the Island since last Saturday.
This was made known by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, when he received yesterday the President of the International Wushu Federation of China.
The Head of State stressed that the visit takes place in a line of consensus with the President and General Secretary of the CCP, Xi Jinping, “which have led us to the construction of a society of shared future”.
He reflected that, “in the conceptual elements of that society”, the issues of cultural exchanges are present; and, of course, also sports: “we have multiple visits from our Chinese friends in different fields and areas of economic and social life; but we were missing a good sports visit, and we believe that this one complements that desire”.
The President assured Gao Zhidan that he was aware of their agenda on the Island: “I know that they have had an intense program; that they have visited several sports institutions; that they have exchanged with Cuban sports glories; that they have been able to learn about the history of the Cuban sports movement, its main achievements, its current purposes and challenges, and also about the difficult circumstances in which our sport is currently developing”.
He said that “the proposals made by both parties to expand and strengthen the sports exchange” are very helpful to him, and commented that the results of Chinese sports are admirable, “more and more convincing in the international arena”.
The President emphasized how the Asian brothers give sports not only a competitive approach, but also a welfare approach, and said: “in the last decades, in Cuba, traditional Chinese sports practices have also been assimilated, which are part of your millenary culture, and of ancestral wisdom that really impresses a lot”.
Accompanied by Osvaldo Vento Montiller, President of Inder; by Roberto León Richards, President of the Cuban Olympic Committee; by María Caridad Colón, member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Vice-president of the Cuban Olympic Committee and President of the Cuban Athletics Federation; as well as by Gisleidy Sosa Cabrera, Director of International Relations of Inder, Díaz-Canel ratified the willingness to continue expanding relations also in sports; “our willingness to do joint training for international events, to exchange methodologies, scientific advances, innovation, preparation of coaches, preparation of athletes and, of course, to promote as much as possible the events and sports exchanges between Cuba and China”.
For his part, Gao Zhidan thanked for the reception, and highlighted the warm welcome from Inder and also from the Cuban Olympic Committee. “It is a sign of the special and friendly relations between both countries. And I am very grateful for this high valuation of the relations between both Parties, Governments, and the sports sector.”
China and Cuba, he said, “have a deep friendship, because throughout the last 65 years, in the face of the vicissitudes in the international arena, we have always maintained friendship and cooperation”.
(Cubaminrex-Granma)