On Wednesday, Chinese officials denied a report claiming that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is responsible for four bases in Cuba that have allegedly been spying on the United States.
As reported by Fox News, the claims were first made by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank based out of Washington D.C. In response, Chinese Foreign Minister Mao Ning issued a statement declaring that “the cooperation between China and Cuba is aboveboard, not targeting any third party, and does not allow any malicious slander from third parties.”
Similarly, Cuban Foreign Minister Carlos de Cossio dismissed such claims as coming from “Cuba’s enemies…as a way of justifying the criminal policy of economic aggression.”
The CSIS report analyzed at least a dozen “sites of interest,” identifying four in particular as being most likely to have connections to China.
“These sites have undergone observable upgrades in recent years, even as Cuba has faced increasingly dire economic prospects that have drawn it closer to China,” the report claims.
The report utilized satellite imagery to determine that one of the four sites was active as recently as March of 2024. This particular site, located on a hill near Havana, Bejucal, has five entrances to what appear to be underground facilities. The base is lined with satellite antennas most often used to intercept satellite communications.
The growing alliance between China and Cuba has been a concern in recent years. In 2016, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has since been designated as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, declared that Cuba must “kick out this Chinese listening station in Bejucal.”
In the last several decades, China has provided at least $7.8 billion to Cuba in development financing. It has been suspected that Cuba could be conducting surveillance on rocket launches from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral in Florida, which is just 100 miles away from Cuba’s shores.