Weeks after reports revealed that Cuba agreed to allow China to build a spy station on the island, a new report says the two are working to create a joint military training facility.
Plans for the military base's creation are not solidified but are nearing an end, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plan could bring Chinese soldiers near American shores and increase tensions between the two powers. The Biden Administration is allegedly working to stop the deal and is contacting the Cuban government.
Earlier this month, the Journal reported that China and Cuba reached a deal to establish an eavesdropping base, which would permit Beijing to collect electronic communications from the southeastern United States, home to many military and intelligence bases.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would have "deep concerns" about a Chinese military base in Cuba.
"I made very clear that we would have deep concerns about PRC intelligence or military activities in Cuba," Blinken said after traveling to London on Tuesday. "This is something we're going to be monitoring very, very closely and we've been very clear about that. And we will protect our homeland, we will protect our interests."
The Biden administration originally denied the reporting but eventually admitted China has been collecting intelligence through spy bases in Cuba for years.
Cuba is partnering with other countries that are hostile to America. Reports this week indicated Cuban soldiers are fighting for Russia in the war in Ukraine. Russia offered citizenship to any Cuban soldier who fights for one year in the military.
The development comes amid growing tensions between China and the United States, the Journal reported:
The heightened anxiety in Washington over China’s ambitions in the Caribbean and Latin America comes as the administration is seeking to tamp down broader tensions with Beijing that have been stoked by a host of other issues, including U.S. support for Taiwan. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on a high-profile visit to China these past few days, meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The trip appeared to halt a downward spiral in relations. But Blinken failed to secure China’s agreement to a U.S. proposal that the two countries resume military-to-military communications to avoid misunderstandings. He also raised U.S. concerns about Chinese intelligence activities in Cuba, according to a State Department statement.