HAVANA, Cuba - Yibo Shen came to Cuba five years ago to study Spanish at the University of Havana. He’s still here, working and passing time in Chinese restaurants on the weekends, one of a growing number of Chinese who are living here as Cuban-Chinese trade booms. China is now Cuba’s second-largest trading partner, after Venezuela. Trade between Cuba and China soared last year to $2.4 billion, Ricardo Alarcon, Cuba’s national assembly president, said during a recent trip to China. China’s oil company is exploring offshore oil and Chinese businesses are flourishing. Inexpensive Chinese sneakers and auto parts fill Havana’s bare-bones shops and Chinese pharmaceuticals are being developed in ventures with Cuban firms. ‘We expect a substantial increase in Chinese visitors to Cuba,’ Alarcon said in China. China’s Xinhua news agency reported in March that 10,000 Chinese visit Cuba each year. A 45-year trade embargo prevents most U.S. businesses from trading with Cuba, and a U.S.-imposed travel ban keeps most Americans from visiting the island. But the Chinese have no such difficulties. Shen, for example, represents one of China’s largest bus manufacturers, the Yutong Group. In just a few years here he’s sold thousands […]