Report says China negotiating joint military training facility in Cuba; Blinken expresses concerns about Chinese intelligence, military activities in Cuba
The Wall Street Journal says China is negotiating with Cuba to build a joint military training facility in the Caribbean nation.
Quoting current and former US officials, the influential US newspaper reported on Tuesday that negotiations are underway between China and Cuba to establish the facility on the northern coast of the island nation.
The report said the US administration of Joe Biden is concerned that the move could lead to the stationing of Chinese troops and other security and intelligence operations “just 100 miles off Florida’s coast.”
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh avoided directly commenting on the report when she spoke to reporters on Tuesday.
But she said the US government is aware that China is “continuing to express interest in the Western hemisphere” and wants to expand its military presence. She said, “We are going to continue to monitor that.”
In a news conference in London, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had conveyed that his country would have deep concerns about Chinese intelligence or military activities in Cuba when he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday.
The US government announced last week that China has intelligence collection facilities in Cuba and increased the number of such installations in 2019. Washington is increasingly concerned about Beijing’s attempt to step up its military activities near the US mainland.
