China to establish spy facility in Cuba, says WSJ

a report from The Wall Street Journal on Thursday said China has reached a secret deal with Cuba to establish a spy facility on the island nation but the Biden Administration was quick to cast doubt on the report here's Pentagon press secretary and Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder I've seen that that reporting I can tell you based on the information that we have that that is not accurate that we are not aware of China and Cuba developing any type of spy station separately I would say that the relationship that those two countries share is something that we continuously monitor I would say that that as you've heard us say many times China's activities both in our Hemisphere and around the world any concerning activities or something that we will continue to to watch closely but in terms of that particular report no it's not accurate Cuba's government also cast out on the report with Vice foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cassio calling it U.S fabrication meant to justify Washington's decades-old economic embargo against the island a spy installation in Cuba which is roughly 100 miles from Florida would allow China to gather electronic communications from the Southeastern U.S which houses many U.S military bases Beijing would also be able to monitor ship traffic the newspaper reported citing U.S officials familiar with classified intelligence that is a concern of jagannath Saint Karen an assistant professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of public affairs at the University of Texas who conducts research on China's military I think the even more scarier part is the electronic intelligence aspect right how ships work uh how in what frequency the ships and ship-based uh carrier-based aircraft to uh communicate on how do these Vedas work I mean you're trying to get all those information in that's very tough to get especially if you're far away from on the main operating base so that shift that ability to observe over a long time and to make a map of how U.S military assets communicate would be probably much more important if this comes into play according to the journal report China and Cuba have reached an agreement in principle with China to pay Cuba several billion dollars to allow the eavesdropping station a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said it was not aware of the case and couldn't give a comment right now the journal said U.S officials declined to provide more details about the proposed location of the Spy station or whether construction had begun the reported deal comes as Washington and Beijing are taking tentative steps to soothe tensions that spiked after a suspected Chinese high-altitude spy balloon crossed the United States before the U.S military shot it down off the east coast in February Thursday's report could also raise questions about a trip to China that U.S officials say Secretary of State Anthony Lincoln is planning in coming weeks Washington's top Diplomat had earlier scrapped the visit over the Spy balloon incident

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Length: 3min 9sec (189 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 09 2023