China is taking advantage of the situation and is starting a fight for Cuban resources.

• China is seizing the opportunity and pursuing a vigorous energy policy in relations with Cuba.
• In exchange for building photovoltaic power plants, access to valuable raw materials will be possible.
• The United States has voluntarily withdrawn from the game of influence over the Cuban economy.

Hours after taking office as President of the United States, Donald Trump introduced new sanctions on trade with Cuba.

This led to a dramatic crisis and the collapse of the local economy. Additionally, two spring hurricanes destroyed the transmission grids and the entire island was enveloped in darkness for several days.

Energy shortages have limited tourist arrivals

The lack of energy caused power cuts to tourist resorts and foreign visitors, mainly from Canada and Europe, began to cancel trips en masse.

Without foreign currency, Cuba's economy cannot function . For years, Russia has been drip-feeding oil and fuel, but its involvement in the large-scale war in Ukraine has reduced aid to a minimum.

Meanwhile, China has seen the opportunity for a new beginning in trade relations with Cuba. A gesture of great significance was the construction this year of several photovoltaic farms with a total installed capacity of 400 MW.

This is about 30 percent of Cuba's deficit in generating capacity. Connecting this energy to the grid reduces the use of valuable heavy oil in power plants.

The assurances of the Chinese side concern further investments in the renewable sources sector and the commissioning of another 37 farms with a total capacity of 2.1 thousand MW over the next two years.

The details of these interstate agreements are not known, but it is known that the equipment comes from Chinese factories, and transport and assembly are provided by teams of specialists from the Middle Kingdom.

It is possible that Chinese companies will undertake the modernization of hotels and all equipment in exchange for their later use.

Cuba is dependent on foreign aid and there are no arguments in this game. Although, as commodity market analysts point out, this is not entirely the case.

Cuba has natural resources that the Chinese want

The island has nickel deposits, which constitute 37 percent of the world's reserves . Additionally, there is manganese, cobalt, chromium, copper and gold. Cubans do not have the resources to prepare and exploit, but China has quite the opposite.

Representatives of the American administration have been raising the issue of the presence of Chinese business in Cuba for some time. They treat it as a potential threat to their interests.

However, due to the policy of sanctions and isolation conducted against Cuba, they now have little influence on what happens on the island.