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Havana, Cuba Photo: VCG

Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday refuted a US think tank report claiming that it has found some suspected "spy bases" in Cuba which it believes would enable China to conduct intelligence operations against the US. Analysts said the US has once again hyped up the issue through the collusion between the media and institutions to suppress and smear China. At the same time, it reflects the anxiety of Washington, which is deeply entrenched in its Monroe Doctrine tradition, over China's rising influence and deepening ties with Latin America.

According to the latest report released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, the number of electronic eavesdropping stations in Cuba that are believed to be linked to China is increasing, including new construction some 110 kilometers from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay. 

Citing former US officials and analysts, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that China is using Cuba's geographical proximity to the southeastern US to scoop up sensitive electronic communications from US military bases, space-launch facilities, and military and commercial shipping. Facilities in Cuba could also bolster China's use of telecommunications networks to spy on US citizens.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for Chinese Foreign Ministry, at a press briefing on Wednesday stressed that "China's cooperation with Cuba is done aboveboard and does not target any third party. We certainly would not accept any deliberate vilification and smear from anyone."

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington wrote on X (previously Twitter) on Tuesday local time that "The #US side has repeatedly hyped up China's establishment of spy bases or conducting surveillance activities in #Cuba. Such claims are nothing but slander… The US side should immediately stop its smearing of China." 

Cuba also refuted the US claims. In an X post released by Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio on Tuesday, he said the Wall Street Journal "persists in launching an intimidation campaign related to #Cuba."

"Without citing a verifiable source or showing evidence, the report was riddled with tales about Chinese military bases that do not exist and no one has seen, including the US Embassy in Cuba," said the diplomat. 

The CSIS report, according to the WSJ, found that Cuba has significantly upgraded and expanded its electronic spying facilities in recent years and pinpointed four sites. 

The report alleges that two of the sites near Cuban capital Havana contain "large dish antennas that appear designed to monitor and communicate with satellites." The report notes that while Cuba doesn't have any satellites, the antennas would be useful for China, according to the WSJ. 

Shen Yi, director of the International Research Institute of Global Cyberspace Governance at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the smear farce of "spy bases" in Cuba illustrates once again the hegemonic double standards and hysterical unhealthy mentality of the US, the world's leading power in terms of eavesdropping.

The US believes that it can enhance its intelligence activities around any other countries, including its allies, but at the same time it is extremely sensitive to the possibility and signs of any enhanced intelligence work by other countries, Shen said.

American military planes and navy vessels have long conducted close-in reconnaissance operations around China. If the US does not want to see China strengthen its intelligence operations near the US, then Washington should not do the same thing near China, or the US will have to gradually adapt to a new reality of other countries' countermeasures against it, Shen said. 

Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the latest round of "spy base" hype is another clumsy show directed by US intelligence agencies. 

Some US intelligence agencies and think tanks have tried to use disinformation to intentionally mislead or even kidnap US policy on China, disregarding the mutually beneficial nature of China-US relations and undermining China-US cooperation, Li said. 

The US' anxiety

Hype over Cuba-based "spy bases linked to China" also occurred in 2023, when The Wall Street Journal said that China and Cuba had reached an agreement in principle to build an electronic eavesdropping station on the island. John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, stated the US media's report on the so-called China's spy station is not "accurate." However, an official from the Biden administration who "spoke on condition of anonymity" told media later that the Chinese base in Cuba has already been established in 2019.

Earlier in May, the Cuban government announced that it will adopt a visa-free policy for Chinese citizens holding ordinary passports, with direct flights resuming as well. 

According to Wang Youming, director of the Institute of Developing Countries at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, the reemergence of the "Cuba spy bases" hype shows the anxiety and lack of confidence of the US when its strength is declining.  

Any normal infrastructure construction and economic and trade exchanges between China and Latin American countries could be target of US suppression and smearing, Wang said. 

The US' anxiety is rooted in its own Monroe Doctrine, treating Latin American countries as its vassals, Li said. 

For a long time, the US has attempted to interfere in normal relations between other major powers and Latin American countries, and tried to meddle in the internal affairs of regional countries there, which has long been opposed by Latin American countries, Li noted. 

The latest hype about "Cuba spy bases" reflects the inherent and malformed hegemonic thinking of the US and its hysterical China policy, Li said.

On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning also urged US to reflect on its behavior, stop interfering in Cuba's internal affairs, remove Cuba from the list of "state sponsors of terrorism" at once, and lift the blockade and sanctions on Cuba.

The mention of Guantanamo in the [CSIS] report is solid testimony to the US' illegal interference in Cuba for over a century," Mao said, "The US' over 60 years of blockade and sanctions on Cuba have inflicted great suffering on the Cuban people."

"Slinging mud at others will not make one's bad deeds go away," Mao said.