China to place secret base in Cuba to spy on US: report

China reportedly reached an agreement with Cuba to allow them to create an electronic eavesdropping facility on the Caribbean island, which is located about 100 miles south of Florida, as tensions between Beijing and Washington have been rising dramatically over the past several months. 

The Cuban facility would allow Chinese intelligence officials to monitor U.S. ship traffic and to listen to electronic communications throughout the southeastern United States, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of highly classified intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

China reached an agreement in principle to pay several billion dollars to the impoverished Marxist-Leninist nation of Cuba, officials familiar with the matter also said. 

The Biden administration is especially concerned about the report due to Cuba's close proximity to the United States, and the fact that the eavesdropping facility could try to listen to communications from the many military bases in the southeast. U.S. intelligence indicates that the base would allow China to monitor communications ranging from satellite transmissions to emails to phone calls. 

"While I cannot speak to this specific report, we are well aware of—and have spoken many times to—the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to invest in infrastructure around the world that may have military purposes, including in this hemisphere," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. "We monitor it closely, take steps to counter it, and remain confident that we are able to meet all our security commitments at home, in the region, and around the world."

This brings to mind the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviet Union attempted to extend its influence in the Western Hemisphere, as the Journal points out. "The U.S. and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war after the Soviets deployed nuclear-capable missiles to Cuba, prompting a U.S. Navy quarantine of the island."

This new report comes after China sent a spy balloon across most of the continental United States in February reportedly to gather intelligence from several sensitive military sites.

More U.S. states are banning or considering banning foreign farmland ownership after China bought 370 acres of land in North Dakota about 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Force Base. According to a 2021 Agriculture Department report, China owns approximately 384,000 acres of agricultural land in the U.S.

Additionally, China is placing its own police officers in New York City to target Chinese dissidents, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.