Cuba allows China to set up secret spy base on its own soil to target US writes that Wall Street Journal Thursday. The site would allow Beijing to collect US intelligence on communications traffic such as emails, phone calls and satellite communications. The Cuban government will receive billions of dollars to build the facilities. It is not clear how much money is involved.

Both the exact location and the time frame for the completion of the construction of the spy base are unknown. The White House is concerned about the planned location because of Cuba’s proximity to the US mainland. The coast of Cuba is about a hundred miles from Florida.

Plans for a planned spy base from China, Washington’s biggest economic and military rival, are of great concern to the administration of President Joe Biden. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on the details disclosed. But he says the U.S. government is aware of “China’s efforts to invest in infrastructure around the world, including in this hemisphere.”

Spy Balloon

Since the 1990s, relations between China and Havana have reportedly grown increasingly close, driven in part by trade and investment. After Venezuela, China is the Cuban regime’s largest trading partner. Cuba also supported a crackdown protection law that Beijing wanted to implement in Hong Kong in 2020 at the United Nations, one of 53 countries.

In February, a Chinese spy balloon flew over the US border, sparking a diplomatic crisis between China and the US. Eventually, the Americans shot down the balloon, which had been used for spying purposes, straining Sino-US relations.