Cuba will get foreign capital, which it desperately needs to renovate key infrastructure such as hospitals and ports, and can do this without having to beg from a country it is at political odds with, such as the United States. Cuba has been faced with issues for most of its rule by communism, and these problems have been exacerbated by the lack of a communist backer since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. A newly emerging Communist China that can help prop up the Castro brothers, embracing their political philosophy rather than condemning it, is exactly what leaders in Havana need to maintain communist control, especially with Fidel Castro seemingly at death’s door and the future of Cuban leadership unclear should anything happen to his brother Raul.

From the other side, the People’s Republic of China gets to point to this agreement as a sign to the communist hard-liners that the state is still interested in promoting communism around the world. Beijing has been creating oxymoronic phrases like “decentralized command economy” to help traditional communists come to terms with the fact that China long ago gave up on Marxism and is instead attempting a blend of leftist politics with capitalist economic goals. With Hu now stressing the ties between China and Cuba that date back to Castro’s communist takeover of the island, he has a bone to throw to old-guard Chinese communist lamenting the capitalist shift that has taken place in mainland China since Deng Xiaoping took over control from Mao Zedong and Hua Guofeng.