The Cuban Embassy in Beijing gave a reception Wednesday to celebrate the National Culture Festival of Cuba.

The festival, held on October 20 every year, which was set up to honor the first victory of the Cuban Independence War on October 20, 1868. On each festival, the Cuban government and people and the Cuban embassies in many countries will hold various celebrating activities.

According to the wife of Cuban Ambassador to China, Hiraida Rodriguez Mondeja, it is the first time that the festival, which started from October 12 and will last till the end of this year, was celebrated in China.

The reception also celebrated the publication of a book entitled "Socialism in Cuba" by two Chinese writers Xiao Feng and Wang Zhixian, which describes the Cuban revolution and its socialist construction.

Rodriguez said Cuba was the first country in the Americas to establish diplomatic relations with China, adding that Cuba "is a faithful friend of China and will always stick to the one-China policy."

Deputy Head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Ma Wenpu, Cuban Ambassador to China Alberto Rodriguez Arufe and Xiao Feng attended the reception.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 21, 2004)