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US-China relations
China

US says it had to declassify information before confirming Chinese spy base in Cuba

  • White House worked to ‘get some context downgraded’ before revealing that the Cuban base has existed since 2019
  • Information about China-Cuba cooperation is not expected to derail Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned visit to Beijing

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Beijing has operated an intelligence-gathering base in Cuba since 2019, the US says. Photo: AFP
Robert Delaneyin Washington
Officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration scrambled to downgrade classified information about an alleged Chinese spy base in Cuba in an effort to correct what it called inaccurate reporting on the matter, a senior official said on Monday.
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National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said information about the base was too sensitive to provide guidance for The Wall Street Journal, which first reported that Beijing and Havana had struck a secret agreement for a facility on the island that could capture electronic transmissions in the southeastern US.

A White House official confirmed over the weekend that China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019. Beijing’s foreign ministry has denied any knowledge of such a facility and called Washington out for “secretive activities” in Cuba.

Havana also denied The Journal’s report, with Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío calling the newspaper’s information “totally mendacious and unfounded.”

Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío denies reports of a Chinese spy base on the island. Photo: Reuters
Cuba’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Fernández de Cossío denies reports of a Chinese spy base on the island. Photo: Reuters

Reports of cooperation between China and Cuba on surveillance capabilities have sparked inquiries about how long such activities have been going on.

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“The sensitive nature of this information is such that we just simply couldn’t go into more detail, even before the [Wall Street Journal] story appeared to try to better inform that reporting,” Kirby said.

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