According to the report, China wants to build a listening station in Cuba – the US knows nothing about it

According to a media report, China wants to build an anti-US spy station in Cuba. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous US officials, reported Thursday that China and Cuba had reached a secret agreement to build the electronic communications intercept facility.

This could intercept communications in the southeastern United States, which is home to numerous US military bases. According to the Wall Street Journal, China is willing to pay the socialist Caribbean island state several billions for permission to build the station.

However, the White House rejected the report. “I saw this press release,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC. “He’s not right.” However, the US government is concerned about “China’s influence activities around the world, especially in this hemisphere and in this region”.

The US Department of Defense had not previously commented on the report. “In general, we are very aware of efforts by the People’s Republic of China to invest in infrastructure that can serve military purposes around the world, including in the Western Hemisphere,” said a Pentagon official.

Relations between the US and China have been tense for some time. In February, the overflight of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the United States caused diplomatic unrest, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned visit to Beijing. The US eventually shot down the balloon over the US East Coast, which in turn provoked angry reactions in Beijing. The US sees the economic and militarily emerging China as the world’s greatest geopolitical challenge.

During the Cold War, the then-Soviet Union maintained listening stations in Cuba to spy on the United States. When the Soviet Union stationed nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962, it led to one of the most dangerous crises of the Cold War. Moscow eventually withdrew the intermediate-range missiles.

(tononline/dpa)