by Vijeta Uniyal at legalinsurrection.com
While President Joe Biden has been predicting a ‘thaw ‘ in U.S.-China relations, Beijing is rolling out plans to build a massive spy base in Cuba, U.S. officials say.
The facility, capable of carrying out electronic surveillance on American defense and industrial sectors, will give China a listening post just 100 miles from the U.S. coast. “China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, in a brash new geopolitical challenge by Beijing to the U.S., according to U.S. officials familiar with highly classified intelligence,” The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
China offered to reward their fellow communist regime handsomely for conducting a high-tech spying operation on Cuban soil. Beijing reportedly offered Cubans cash to the tune of “several billion” to set up the spying facility aimed at the U.S., the WSJ reportedly disclosed.
Politico reported:
China is in talks with Cuba to establish a foothold there to spy on the United States, two senior U.S. officials said, a provocative move that already has lawmakers warning about parallels to the Cold War.
The officials, granted anonymity to discuss an extremely sensitive intelligence matter, said that China was in direct conversations with Cuba to set up a base on the island nation just 100 miles from the United States. It would allow Beijing to collect signals intelligence on southeastern portions of America, home to many military facilities and major industries. Evidence of the negotiations came to light in recent weeks, the officials said.
Such a pact between China and Cuba could threaten to derail the Biden administration’s efforts to “thaw” its frosty relations with Beijing. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit China in the coming weeks, a trip that was postponed in February after the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon after it traversed North America. Diplomacy with China continues mainly at the economic and trade level, while military-to-military discussions are practically nonexistent.
The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report on the discussions, said Beijing and Havana reached a “secret agreement” whereby China pays Cuba billions of dollars for a facility. The two officials told POLITICO they couldn’t confirm that there was a finalized deal, only that China was in discussions with Cuba about spying on the United States.