HAVANA, CUBA — China plans to build a joint military training facility less than 100 miles from American soil. The base in Cuba would house Chinese and Cuban forces, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The report, revealed one day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a visit to Beijing where he met with President Xi Jinping, is causing concern in Washington.
CHINESE SPYING ON AMERICANS
According to a State Department release, Blinken raised concerns with Chinese officials over the communist country’s activities in Cuba. But earlier this month, the White House admitted that Beijing has had a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019 after denying two reports that China and Cuba had agreed to build a surveillance post on the island.
“We are monitoring and responding to any PRC [People’s Republic of China] attempts to expand its military or security presence around the world,” a State Department spokesperson told The NY Post. “Our experts assess that our diplomatic efforts [with Cuba] have slowed the PRC down. We think the PRC isn’t quite where they had hoped to be.”
MOUNTING CONCERNS
But the State Department acknowledged that concerns are mounting as the CCP keeps trying to enhance its presence in Cuba.
According to Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin), chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese officials told Blinken during his visit that the U.S. must choose between cooperating with China and conflict.
“The CCP seeks to paint any competitive action that does not further its authoritarian vision as a provocation,” Gallagher told the NY Post. “The Biden Administration must push back against this insidious framing and not-so-veiled threat.”
“Only one party seeks to upend the peaceful status quo in the Taiwan Strait, only one party is committing genocide, only one party is militarizing islands in the South China Sea — the Chinese Communist Party,” Gallagher said.
On Saturday, President Biden said China’s decision to float a spy balloon over the U.S. earlier this year was “embarrassing,” but he did not denounce Beijing for launching it.
