China has made plans to open an eavesdropping outpost in Cuba, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials familiar with the highly classified intelligence.
The spy base will focus on intercepting electronic communications, or signals intelligence, from U.S. networks throughout the southeastern U.S. and reflects a brazen challenge to U.S. sovereignty, the Journal reported, citing the officials. China offered Cuba several billion dollars to host the spy base, and the two countries have agreed in principle.
Officials said the Biden administration was alarmed when it discovered the informal deal. Establishing the signals intelligence operating base in Cuba would give the U.S.’ greatest military and political rival unprecedented access to sources of information about the U.S. that Beijing could use to circumvent America’s interests.
“While I cannot speak to this specific report, we are well aware of — and have spoken many times to — the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to invest in infrastructure around the world that may have military purposes, including in this hemisphere,” John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told the Journal. “We monitor it closely, take steps to counter it, and remain confident that we are able to meet all our security commitments at home, in the region, and around the world.”
U.S. intelligence discovered the plans in recent weeks, and officials told the Journal they considered it reliable. They did not say exactly where the base would be located or when construction is expected to begin.
Neither did they explain how the Biden administration could thwart the plans.
“Establishing this facility signals a new, escalatory phase in China’s broader defense strategy. It’s a bit of a game changer,” Craig Singleton, an analyst at the Foundation For Defense of Democracies, told the Journal. “The selection of Cuba is also intentionally provocative.”
Signals intelligence includes email, phone calls and satellite transmissions, as well as other forms of electronic communication.
Cuba is only 100 miles from Florida, a state that hosts 21 U.S. military bases, including the headquarters of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base.
The base could also be used to monitor shipping traffic around the Caribbean.
The revelations continue as the Biden administration seeks to soothe an increasingly acrimonious relationship with Beijing and re-establish communication channels that China cut off in the wake of the spy balloon shootdown.
China launched a surveillance balloon that transited across the continental U.S. and apparently hovered over several sensitive U.S. military sites, collecting information. The U.S. shot the balloon down off the coast of South Carolina.
President Joe Biden said in May he expected a thaw in U.S.-China relations, according to the Journal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet officials — potentially including Chinese premier Xi Jinping — in China after postponing his trip in February due to the balloon incident.
Biden isn’t alarmed! Anything a Democrat proclaims is opposite of the Truth. I think that is pretty much been proven over the last 7 years. And Jack Smith is Targeted for assassination. His life has been shortened for his Treason. He is clearly a Cuban communist. Place his Bearded photo beside FIDEL CASTRO. YOU DECIDE! THERE IS BLOOD RELATION SOME WHERE IN HIS INFEDELITY INBREEDING. Great timing China Enters Cuba. 90 miles off the Coast of Florida. Setting up while DESANTIS RUNS his campaign for President. I’m telling all you readers’ There are heavy Chinese infiltrations coming. You were warned time and again about concentration camps for Political Hostages. And now Florida will be the first state to witness reality. You will see it. Just a very credible Premonition. See it how you prefer.