China has likely upgraded and expanded its spying facilities in Cuba, according to a new report by an American think tank. The report not only confirms that a Cold War between China and the U.S. has already started, but also raises new concerns that China may be aiming to bring it to America’s doorstep, posing potentially severe and grave implications for the U.S.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, produced the study as a follow-up to The Wall Street Journal’s reporting last year that revealed China had secretly agreed to pay cash-strapped Cuba several billion dollars to establish a Chinese electronic eavesdropping facility on the island. This facility is likely to be used for intercepting communications and gathering intelligence on the United States and its allies, according to CSIS.
Probably not wanting the news to disrupt the Biden administration’s détente approach to Beijing, the White House initially insisted that the Journal’s report was inaccurate. Yet, two days later, a U.S. official confirmed that China had a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019. The Biden administration then claimed that it had taken steps to “slow down Beijing’s efforts to expand its intelligence gathering” without elaborating on those steps.
The Biden administration’s vague explanation only inspired more research on the topic. CSIS examined years’ worth of satellite images and released its findings last week. CSIS finds that, contrary to what the Biden administration has told us, China has probably sped up, not slowed down,
