Some American experts claim that Beijing’s intention goes well beyond merely collecting intelligence, according to Voice of America (VOA), as senior US senators continue to press Joe Biden’s administration to update Congress on the monitoring station Beijing is allegedly constructing in Cuba.
These experts claim that if a battle breaks out in Taiwan, the Chinese military may operate across Latin America and the Caribbean to hinder US military operations or possibly launch an assault on the US mainland.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on June 25, Blinken said that Washington had raised its concerns with Beijing and Havana and had had some success in preventing China from establishing military bases overseas.
The US panic was, however, quickly characterized as “the disinformation campaign hyping up the so-called Chinese spy base in Cuba” in an editorial article published in China’s official newspaper, Global Times, very shortly after on June 26.
According to VOA, senior researcher Gordon Chang of the prestigious Gatestone Institute warned that the opening of a Chinese station in Cuba would have military and strategic ramifications for US homeland security.
Chang said that if nuclear missile silos were built in Cuba, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army would gain from “shorter flight times” (i.e., less warning time).
According to a different expert and professor of electrical and radio engineering at the City University of London, David Stupples, Beijing’s presence in Cuba might gather information from US submarines even if it is unable to deploy many personnel there.
According to VOA, China reportedly invaded American land to achieve its own economic and political objectives and get access to essential resources including coal and oil as well as minerals like lithium, copper, and rare earths.
A spy station would create “the opportunity for a semipermanent presence that increases the level of military collaboration and coordination” between China and Cuba, claims Evan Ellis, a professor of Latin American studies at the US Army War College who specializes in the region’s relationships with China.
Unnamed intelligence officials were cited in the reports, which first appeared in The Wall Street Journal, saying that China had agreed to pay Cuba several billion dollars for the spy facility, allowing China to gather electronic communications from across the southeastern United States, where many military bases are located.
An alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US earlier this year over the Atlantic Ocean, but not before it crossed the whole country and went over a number of military installations.
A US destroyer was also unexpectedly crossed by a Chinese navy last weekend as it navigated through international seas in the Taiwan Strait. According to the US, the event made the American ship slow down in order to avoid a collision.