For years, China has maintained an intelligence unit in Cuba, which was upgraded in 2019 as part of Beijing’s international technique to reinforce its intelligence-gathering capabilities, based on a senior White House official. This revelation follows a latest Wall Street Journal report claiming that China had struck a covert settlement with Cuba to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, just one hundred sixty kilometres from the southern United States.
The WSJ additionally reported that China meant to pay Cuba billions of US dollars as a part of the deal. Both the US and Cuban governments have expressed vital doubts concerning the report. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a White House official stated that the WSJ’s portrayal “does not comport with our understanding.” However, they did not present particular details on the report’s inaccuracies or handle whether or not China was attempting to assemble a new eavesdropping facility in Cuba.
The official noted that the matter predates President Joe Biden’s administration and is a half of China’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its world intelligence assortment infrastructure. “This is an ongoing problem and never a new improvement,” the official said. “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] carried out an improve of its intelligence assortment facilities in Cuba in 2019. This is well-documented in the intelligence document.”
In response to the allegations, an official at China’s embassy in Washington, DC referred to an announcement by a Chinese overseas ministry spokesperson, who accused the US of “spreading rumours and slander” relating to a Cuban spy station and labelled it “the most powerful hacker empire in the world.”
Cuba’s government has also strongly criticised the claims. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio took to Twitter to sentence the “slanderous speculation” that he believes is being promoted by certain media shops to cause hurt and alarm with out adhering to primary communication requirements or offering evidence to assist their claims. Cossio has beforehand characterised the WSJ’s report as a fabrication by the US to justify its long-standing financial embargo against the island. He emphasised that Cuba opposes all international military presence in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Unconditional of Chinese spying from Cuba come at a time when Washington and Beijing are making cautious efforts to ease tensions that escalated after a suspected Chinese high-altitude spy balloon crossed the US mainland, prompting the US military to shoot it down off the East Coast in February. These efforts include a deliberate go to to China by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on June 18, which had been previously cancelled due to the spy balloon incident.
A Biden administration official said that although former President Donald Trump’s administration was aware of the Chinese basing efforts in Cuba and made some attempts to handle the problem.
“We weren’t making enough progress and wanted a extra direct strategy.”
The official revealed that US diplomats had engaged with governments contemplating internet hosting Chinese bases and had exchanged information with them..