Allegedly, China and Cuba have come to a preliminary agreement to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island.
According to an official from the Biden administration, China has been running a covert intelligence station in Cuba since at least 2019, as part of its worldwide initiative to enhance its capabilities for gathering intelligence.
The anonymous official, who lacked authorization to make public statements, revealed that the U.S. intelligence community has long been aware of China’s espionage activities from Cuba, as well as its broader endeavor to establish intelligence-gathering operations across the world.
According to the aforementioned official familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter, the Biden administration has intensified its efforts to counter China’s expanding espionage operations. Through diplomacy and other undisclosed actions, they believe some progress has been achieved in thwarting these activities.
The confirmation of the Chinese spy base’s existence came after The Wall Street Journal’s report, stating that China and Cuba had reached a preliminary agreement to construct an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island. As part of the negotiations, it was reported that China intended to provide billions of dollars to financially strained Cuba.
However, the White House dismissed the report as inaccurate. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stated in an MSNBC interview that he had seen the press report and deemed it inaccurate. He further emphasized the administration’s concerns about China’s influence activities worldwide, particularly in the hemisphere and region, and assured close monitoring of the situation.
According to the administration official, the U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Chinese spying from Cuba has been a persistent and ongoing matter, rather than a recent development.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío responded to the report through a Twitter post on Saturday, refuting its claims. He described the speculation as slanderous and suggested that certain media outlets were spreading unfounded information without adhering to proper communication standards or providing supporting data or evidence.