A Chinese fighter jet performs a dangerous maneuver against an American spy plane (US Army)
China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement to build an electronic listening facility on the island in exchange for billions of dollars Beijing will transfer to the regime in Havana, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials familiar with the classified intelligence.
According to the report, the facility will allow Beijing to collect electronic communications from the southeastern United States, an area where many military bases are located. The headquarters of the U.S. Army Central Command is located in Tampa, Florida, which is separated from the communist island by only 160 miles. Fort Liberty, the largest U.S. Army base, is located in North Carolina.
According to the sources who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, intelligence on plans to build a Chinese base in Cuba has been gathered in recent weeks and has been convincing. They added that the facility would provide China with the means to carry out signals intelligence, including access to emails, phone calls and satellite communications.
"I can't comment on this specific report, but we're well aware of China's efforts — and we've talked about them many times — to invest in infrastructure around the world that could have a military purpose, including in this hemisphere," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "We are monitoring this closely, taking steps to deal with the issue and we are convinced that we are capable of meeting all our security requirements at home, in the region and around the world," he said.
The Chinese and Cuban embassies in Washington did not comment on the report.
Special forces on the streets of Havana, Cuba, July 13, 2021 (Photo: Reuters)
According to the report, the agreement between the two communist rivals of the United States worries the Biden administration, which will face a new threat in America's backyard. Washington and Beijing are taking cautious steps to ease tensions between them, which were exacerbated by the infiltration of a Chinese spy balloon into U.S. airspace in February before it was shot down in the ocean.
The reported agreement may also raise questions about a planned visit to China by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming weeks. He was supposed to make an official visit to Beijing in February, but the balloon incident led to his cancellation.
"The threat to America from Cuba is not only real, it's much worse than that," said Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who holds hawkish views on China and Cuba, from which his parents immigrated to the United States.
Cuba, which is also a close ally of Russia, needs financial aid. Its economy suffers from inflation, fuel shortages, plummeting agricultural production and a lack of cash that are hurting its output and fueling the frustration of citizens in the Caribbean island nation.
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