The Pentagon has dismissed reports of a secret pact between China and Cuba that would enable Beijing to construct an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, located 160 kilometers from the United States and called it “not accurate.” Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, on Thursday said: “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 station.”
China had reportedly agreed to pay financially hard-pressed Cuba several billion dollars for the spy facility, which would allow China to collect electronic communications from throughout the southeastern United States, where numerous military bases are located. Ryder added that the Pentagon was not aware of China setting up any type of military base in Cuba or elsewhere in the region. However, he cautioned that the relationship between Cuba and China is something that the Pentagon monitors, along with any type of “coercive activity or belligerent activity” by China in the Western Hemisphere.
A senior White House official also described the media reports as “not accurate.” A Defense Department official, on conditions of anonymity, said that the US was still “able to meet all our security commitments at home and across the region.” The official added that the US was “very aware” of China’s attempts on “a broader level.”
Nicholas Eftimiades, a retired intelligence officer said that Cuba “certainly falls within the footprint to be able to collect the US military communications from some geostationary satellites.” “This is an intelligence collection program. It’s not unexpected. I would think that this has been coming for quite some period of time,” he added.
The White House and many lawmakers in Congress consider China to be the chief US economic and military rival. The US is the world’s biggest economy, and China is the second largest. Earlier this year, the US. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, but not before it travelled the breadth of the United States and flew over numerous military bases. Last weekend, a Chinese warship abruptly sailed across the bow of a US destroyer as it passed through international waters in the Taiwan Strait. The US said the incident forced the American ship to slow down to avoid a collision.