U.S. officials say they hope to “disrupt” a Chinese intelligence gathering operation allegedly based in Cuba after a Washington think tank released satellite images it said showed the construction of a spy base capable of surveilling a nearby American naval base.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies on Monday released a report alleging that Cuba in 2021 let China construct spy facilities on "the doorstep of the United States" that would allow Beijing to monitor air and maritime traffic up to 9,000 miles (14,500 kms) away by using radar.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, U.S. State Department principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said officials had already "talked about this a little bit more than a year ago" when reports of a Chinese base in Cuba nearly derailed a trip to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
But he acknowledged the United States takes issue with its rival building spy facilities on China, which lies about 90 miles (145 kms) south of Florida and was infamously once home to Soviet nuclear missiles.
“Obviously, we certainly would not want a country like the PRC conducting such an operation in such a region that has proximity to the United States,” Patel said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder mirrored Patel’s comments and said the U.S. military was “taking steps to counter” intelligence gathering.
“We're confident,” he said, “that we can continue to meet our security commitments both here at home and in the region. As you may have heard us say, or the White House say, almost a year ago they've been tracking that these activities have been going on for decades.”
“The PRC had completed an upgrade of its facilities in Cuba in 2019,” Ryder added. “We know that the PRC is going to continue to try to enhance its presence in Cuba and we will continue to keep working to disrupt that. So we're continuing to monitor this closely.”
Cuban and Chinese denials
Both Cuba and China’s governments have rejected the CSIS findings.
In a post to social media platform X, Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossi derided a report based on the CSIS satellite images that was published in The Wall Street Journal.
"The Wall Street Journal persists in launching an intimidation campaign related to #Cuba," de Cossio said in the post on Tuesday. "Without citing a verifiable source or showing evidence, it seeks to scare the public with tales about Chinese military bases that do not exist and no one has seen, including the US embassy in Cuba."
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, accused the United States of having “hyped up China's establishment of spy bases” in Cuba as part of a smear campaign against Beijing.
"Such claims are nothing but slander," Liu wrote, also in a post to X. "The US side should immediately stop its smearing of China."
His denials were also repeated in a press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, who derided what she said was another false accusation about Chinese foreign military bases “that do not exist and no one has seen.”
“China and Cuba are good friends, good comrades and good brothers,” Mao said. “China-Cuba relations are a good example of sincerity and mutual assistance between developing countries. China’s cooperation with Cuba is done aboveboard, and does not target any third party.”
U.S. officials, for their part, have also denied their problems with a Chinese spy base in Cuba was akin to China’s issues with alleged U.S. spy facilities in Taiwan, which lies about 80 miles (130 kms) from China.
Patel, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said in his press briefing on Tuesday he could not comment on the existence of any facilities.
But he said the two issues were separate.
“Any country is allowed to have any feelings that they would like to have,” Patel said. “But I also think that comparing us as a country to the PRC as a country, it’s a little bit apples and oranges.”