China is going to place a listening post in Cuba, according to the Wall Street Journal and news channel CNN, based on US security sources. This would allow Beijing to spy on much of the US. The White House will be very concerned about the spy post being so close to US soil.
China views the spy center as a countermeasure to US espionage activities in the South China Sea. The agreement between the two countries will cost crores. Cuba could really use the money from Beijing. The country has been mired in economic crisis for some time now. Incidentally, it is not entirely clear whether the deal has already been fully concluded. It is also uncertain whether China has already begun installing eavesdropping equipment.
Security sources warn that China could intercept US phone and email communications from Cuba across the southeastern United States. There are also many military bases in the area. Tracking shipping will also be easier.
‘Obvious Concerns’
John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, responded that the report was “false”, but declined to elaborate on what was wrong with the Reuters news agency. He said the US has “obvious concerns” about the relationship between China and Cuba. Earlier, Kirby said the Americans were in regular contact with China about its international construction projects “with possible military operations.”
US media say the White House reacted with shock to the deal between Havana and Beijing. Biden sees China as his biggest economic and military rival and a Chinese base 200 kilometers from the US mainland is highly undesirable. It recalls the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union wanted to put missiles on the communist island. At the time, it brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Weather balloon
Relations between Washington and Beijing further cooled after a Chinese ‘weather balloon’ was flown over the United States last February. According to the Americans, it was a spy balloon that sent information directly to China. The balloon was eventually blown out of the sky by an American fighter jet. China insists it was a faulty weather balloon.
Chinese spies also have a clear foothold in the United States. In April, two Chinese Americans were arrested for allegedly running a secret Chinese police station in New York. Chinese dissidents, among others, are said to have been discovered from the post.
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