The Department of Defense has denied a media report that China had agreed to a deal with Cuba to establish a new surveillance facility on the island.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the department is not aware of a deal in which China would provide the island roughly 100 miles from Florida with several billion dollars for the eavesdropping station that would be designed to scoop up electronic communications in the southeastern United States.
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"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 stations," he explained. "Separately, I would say that the relationship that those two countries share is something that we continuously monitor."
Ryder noted that the department is "certainly" aware they "maintain a relationship of sort," but denied the report of this particular agreement, though congressional leaders were quick to express their concern.
"We are deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people," Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) said in a statement. "The United States must respond to China's ongoing and brazen attacks on our nation's security. We must be clear that it would be unacceptable for China to establish an intelligence facility within 100 miles of Florida and the United States, in an area also populated with key military installations and extensive maritime traffic. We urge the Biden administration to take steps to prevent this serious threat to our national security and sovereignty."
A base for Beijing in Cuba would provide the country the Pentagon considers its "pacing challenge" with closer access to the continental United States than ever before.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, argued in a statement, "The Biden administration must take note that China's military operations are not limited to the Indo-Pacific. China's military is at our doorstep, in North America and throughout South America, and we cannot afford to ignore or overlook the threat. We must use every tool available to counter and deter China's aggression."
The Beijing-Washington relationship has been strained for months, with Chinese defense senior leaders refusing to engage with their U.S. counterparts, while their military continues down a more coercive and aggressive stance toward the region.
The refusal to speak with U.S. leaders came to a slight halt when Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin briefly met with Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu at the Shangri-La summit in Singapore last week, but it was not a substantive conversation, and the Chinese denied a request for a more formal meeting.
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"In just the last few months a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy balloon has traversed the U.S., a CCP military ship cut off a U.S. military ship in the Taiwan Strait, and the CCP banned Micron in China and raided other American companies," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) said in a statement. "The CCP is now escalating their aggressive behavior by setting up a spy base 90 miles from America's shores in Cuba. It is extremely shameful the Biden administration continues begging the CCP for talks while the CCP's malign actions speak for themselves."
Ely Ratner, the assistant secretary of defense for the Indo-Pacific, said the department had seen "a steep rise in the region of [People's Liberation Army] aerial intercepts in particular" over the last 18 months, which he called a "major problem."
Tags: Department of Defense, News, Defense, National Security, China, Cuba, U.S. military
Original Author: Mike Brest
Original Location: Pentagon denies report of Chinese-Cuban agreement for spy facility