On July 21, 2025, Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu met with Cuban First Deputy Foreign Minister Gerardo Peñalver Portal.

Ma Zhaoxu welcomed Gerardo Peñalver Portal's visit to China, saying that President Xi Jinping and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez have met on multiple occasions to map out a blueprint for the development of China-Cuba relations in the new era. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Cuba. China is ready to work with Cuba to fully implement the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state, strengthen bilateral exchanges, deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and continuously make new progress in the building of a China-Cuba community with a shared future.

Gerardo Peñalver Portal said that under the care and effort of the two heads of state, China-Cuba relations have flourished and produced fruitful results. Cuba attaches great importance to its special and friendly relations with China, and is willing to further strengthen high-level exchanges between the two parties and the two countries, deepen strategic coordination and pragmatic cooperation, enhance exchanges and cooperation between the two foreign ministries, and advance the China-Cuba community with a shared future to a higher level.

On the same day, Vice Foreign Minister Miao Deyu held political consultations between the foreign ministries of China and Cuba with Gerardo Peñalver Portal. The two sides had an in‑depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common interest and concern.