Feature: Cuba introduces Chinese language course for int'l relations students

HAVANA, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Rachel Dominguez on Tuesday was overjoyed to start learning Chinese as her optional subject.

She is among 47 university students from Cuba's Higher Institute of International Relations "Raul Roa Garcia" (ISRI) to attend Chinese language classes from this semester.

"China is playing a fundamental role in global politics," she said. "The bilateral relations between China and Latin American countries continue to strengthen."

According to the syllabus, students will learn writing and speaking skills in Chinese. And they will also have a chance to study Chinese calligraphy.

"This is a new chapter in the history of cooperation between China and Cuba," Chinese Ambassador to Cuba Ma Hui told students during the opening ceremony of the course.

"If you study hard with the support of Chinese language professors, you will be able to make it," he said.

Over the past few years, learning the Chinese language and culture has become increasingly popular across the island country, thanks to the efforts by social organizations and cultural institutions. One of them is Havana's Confucius Institute, from which thousands of students have graduated since it was founded in 2009.

"I want to learn about Chinese culture," second-year student Silvio Javier Jimenez told Xinhua. "I would like to work as a diplomat in Asia."

ISRI rector Rogelio Sierra said that the Chinese language is increasingly being spoken around the world as China's influence is growing in the international arena.

"This course has a special meaning and extraordinary importance for us," he said. "China is a great country, and we have long received solidarity gestures from the Chinese people."

The course comes one year after the Cuban Ministry of Education first introduced the Chinese language course into secondary education for 130 seventh graders from Havana's Fructuoso Rodriguez secondary school.

Chinese language classes at ISRI will be taught by professors from Havana's Confucius Institute, one of whom is 28-year-old Chang Xiaoyu.

"I have been in Cuba for over a year," she said. "I strongly believe this initiative will help spread knowledge of the Chinese language among university students and population."