These talks, in my opinion, represent a missed opportunity for the United States.  The  stigma of Cuba and their socialist society in the US has hindered the advancement of a neighboring country.  While the US has recently allowed travel to Cuba for a select number of its citizens a year, there is still an embargo in place that hinders any real economic relations to develop. Therefore like many other situations, China is more than willing to step in and provide capital for Cuba’s growing economy. Cuba’s recent move to allow privatization of property for their citizens and overall economic reform shows that the Cuban leaders are willing to break from past ideologies to advance the country. The US could easily get its foot in the door with this developing country but because of old preconceived notions, that I feel many Americans don’t even understand, China will likely grab up this market before the US.  Also as the article stated, the relations between Cuba and China, with this deal, will deepen and broaden.  This means that China could possibly have a country next to the US deeply within its sphere of influence, which in the long run could be beneficial to China but could also strain relations between these two super powers leaving Cuba in the middle to be sacrificed.