Beijing, China - China again called on the US to lifts its sanctions and oil blockade on Cuba, which it described as coercive and without a basis in international law.

"China opposes illicit unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters during a daily press conference in Beijing.

"We urge the US to stop at once its blockade and all forms of coercion and pressuring against Cuba, which violate the Cuban people's right to survival and development," he said.

"We firmly support Cuba in exploring the socialist development path suited to its national conditions, and firmly support Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference."

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Guo's comments came in response to a question about the State Department's decision on Tuesday to slap new sanctions on five Cuban companies as well as Raúl Castro's daughter-in-law.

The sanctioned companies were all affiliated with the Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), a Cuban business conglomerate operated by the country's Revolutionary Armed Forces.

"GAESA continues to operate as the financial muscle behind the Cuban regime's repressive security apparatus," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, seeking to justify the decision to impose unilateral sanctions.

Describing Rubio as "dishonest and mendacious," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla slammed the US sanctions in a post to X on Tuesday.

Rodriguez Parrilla accused the US of attempting to "tighten the siege around the Cuban economy, when the latter is proving to be stronger, more capable and efficient than it expected."

He said that the US was exercising "ruthless aggression" and "collective punishment" against the Cuban people. The latter would constitute a war crime under Common Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"What drives this individual from the biggest power in the world is a crime," he said.