China suspected of ramping up spying capacity in Cuba
by AFP Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) July 2, 2024

China appears to have ramped up its capacity for espionage in Cuba, potentially giving Beijing a window to sensitive military data from Florida, a US think tank said.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies analyzed satellite imagery from four sites in Cuba, two of which contain space-monitoring equipment even though the communist-ruled island has no satellites or space program of its own.

Such capabilities "are likely intended to monitor the activities of other nations," the think tank said in a report issued Monday.

While saying it was impossible to know of any exact targets, it said that the Cuban sites may also provide "the ability to monitor radio traffic and potentially intercept data delivered by US satellites as they pass over highly sensitive military sites" such as US Central Command and Southern Command, both based in Florida.

Cuba denied the findings, which were first reported in The Wall Street Journal, with Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos F. de Cossio calling the report an "intimidation campaign."

The newspaper "is trying to scare the public with tales of Chinese military bases that do not exist and that no one, including the US embassy in Cuba, has seen," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

US officials last year said that China has been operating an intelligence unit in Cuba for years and that it upgraded it in 2019.

Asked about the latest report, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said: "We know that (China) is going to continue to try to enhance its presence in Cuba."

"We will continue to keep working to disrupt that. So, we're continuing to monitor this closely, taking steps to counter it," he told reporters.

The think tank report said that China through equipment in Cuba would also be able to track its own satellites better as it maintains ground stations in much of world but not in North America.

Cuba, located just 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Florida, has had a tense relationship with Washington since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Washington and Moscow came close to the brink of nuclear war in 1962 after the United States discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites being built on the island.

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