China to base electronic eavesdropping facility on Cuba: report
China has reportedly reached an agreement with Cuban officials to host an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island nation, which is roughly 100 miles from the coast of Florida, in what would be the closest foreign adversary military base to the U.S. mainland.
The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials familiar with the matter, reported Thursday that China has agreed to pay Cuba several billion dollars to build the facility.
If Chinese officials were to operate out of the base, they could pick up on signals communication, meaning China would be able to intercept emails, phone calls and satellite transmissions.
2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley slammed President Biden in response to the report for “twiddling his thumbs, worrying about China’s green energy policies” as she said China moves aggressively to counter Washington.
“Joe Biden needs to wake up to the real Chinese threats on our doorstep,” Haley tweeted.
The U.S. has long had a rocky relationship with Cuba, a communist regime currently led by President Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel.
Pro-democracy protests swept the country in the summer of 2021, which the U.S. supported, but the movement did not lead to regime change.
Last year, Biden resumed flights to Cuba and reengaged in some channels with the nation, including on migration.
Republicans, however, are slamming him for not not having taken stronger action against China and Cuba in the past, failing to stop the potential Chinese facility.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) criticized Biden Thursday for failing to strongly support the pro-democracy protests and stand against his enemies.
“America’s enemies know Biden is too weak to stand up against them, so they are taking advantage of the hospitality offered by the illegitimate communist regime in Cuba,” Scott said in a statement. “This move by Communist China presents grave threats to America’s national security that cannot be ignored. Every American should be up in arms about this.”
“It’s not just spying on the government, which is bad enough, it’s spying on you, seeing your emails and your data.”
It’s unclear if the U.S. can step in to stop the development of the Chinese facility.
In 1962, after a U.S.-supported invasion of Cuba failed to overthrow the communist Castro regime, the Soviet Union moved to stash nuclear missiles in Cuba.
The U.S. responded by surrounding the island in a naval blockade, leading to the standoff known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The crisis — the closest the world has come to a nuclear conflict — was only resolved after the Soviet Union scrapped the plan, and the U.S. later removed nuclear missiles near Turkey.
Both China and the U.S. are struggling to manage escalating tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, including a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a self-governing democratic island that Beijing sees as historically part of the mainland.
The U.S. operates military bases in the Indo-Pacific region that have long angered China, which Beijing could cite to justify the Cuban site.
China has also complained about U.S. reconnaissance flights over the South China Sea, a body of water China claims nearly entirely as its own. A Chinese jet late last month flew by an American spy plane in what the U.S. called an aggressive move.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
