Cuban leader Fidel Castro called China’s growing economic power in the world a ”bitter drink” for the West, ahead of a Group of 20 (G20) summit set to tackle the economic crisis later this week.
”Recognising the growing role of China in the global economy is a bitter drink for the West,” Castro wrote on Monday in an article on the Cubadebate website.
The ailing Castro (82) criticised the way several international media organisations have covered China on the eve of a G20 summit of major developing and industrialised nations in London on Thursday.
”The global public opinion has the duty and the right to learn more about the problems of an economic crisis that has struck all the peoples of the world,” added Castro, now a frequent newspaper and online columnist.
He was sidelined nearly a year ago after major intestinal surgery, and handed power temporarily to his brother, interim president Raul Castro (77).
The economic influence of China at the G20 summit will be ”huge” as never before compared to the United States, the world’s sole superpower, Castro added in another article published in the Cuban press.
”As you can see, the influence of the People’s Republic of China at the London meeting will be huge from an economic point of view in the global crisis,” he wrote.
Castro said the situation ”would never have happened before, as US power used to prevail entirely in this field”. — AFP
