China's leader visits Cuba

The Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, on a visit to Cuba, was welcomed by President Fidel Castro with warm words of praise for the achievements of Communism in his country, Reuter reports from Havana.

Mr Castro, decorating Mr Jiang with the Order of Jose Marti, said only socialism would have been capable of what he called the miracle of feeding, clothing and providing jobs, education and health care for more than 1 billion people. 'Thanks to this feat, in this difficult period, in China, more than a fifth of humanity remains under the flags of socialism,' Mr Castro said.