A Washington insider says China has been running a major US spy operation in Cuba for years after news broke last week that Beijing has struck a deal to build a ‘spying’ facility on the island.
According to the senior White House official, a base just 100 miles away from Florida already exists and was revamped four years ago in an effort to ramp up China’s intelligence-gathering capabilities.
Both Havana and Beijing have strongly denied the reports of the deal, claiming no such deal was ever signed, says The Daily Express US.
But the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, admits covert operations from the Caribbean hub are nothing new: “This is an ongoing issue and not a new development.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019. This is well-documented in the intelligence record.”
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China’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Friday, accusing the US of “spreading rumors and slander” and of being “the most powerful hacker empire in the world”.
The Cuban Government also puched back on the spying allegations. Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said on Twitter: “Slanderous speculation continues, evidently promoted by certain media outlets to cause damage and alarm, without following minimal communication patterns, and without providing data or evidence to support what they spread.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby insisted lasy week the US remains “able to meet all our security commitments at home and in the region”.
He said: “We have had real concerns about China’s relationship with Cuba, and we have been concerned since day one of the Administration about China’s activities in our hemisphere and around the world. We are closely monitoring it and taking steps to counter it.”
He added US officials were “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”.
China has been accused of trying to increase access to US electronic communications this year. In February, a suspected spy balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina after transmitting intelligence to Beijing.
