On Tuesday, the House of Representatives convened a Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security hearing entitled, “Beijing’s Air, Space, and Maritime Surveillance from Cuba: A Growing Threat to the Homeland.”
In June 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported, “China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island.” The facility would reportedly enable Chinese intelligence services to monitor electronic communications on the American mainland.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, stated:
Mounting evidence suggests that the Chinese Communist Party is expanding its strategic partnership with the totalitarian communist regime in Cuba to build advanced surveillance infrastructure capable of targeting the United States. This collaboration represents one of the most brazen intelligence operations ever attempted near the American mainland, and places our military operations, commercial activity, and communications squarely in the crosshairs of a hostile foreign power.
Recent satellite imagery and open-source analysis suggest the presence of several Chinese-funded signals intelligence facilities across Cuba. The possibility that these sites are capable of monitoring U.S. military operations, commercial shipping, space launches and sensitive communications is deeply troubling.
“A mere 90 miles off our shores, the United States’ most formidable 21st century competitor, the People’s Republic of China, has found fertile soil to deploy its arsenal of espionage, digital surveillance, and maritime competition,” Dr. Ryan C. Berg, the director of Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the subcommittee. “When Soviet influence diminished on the island following the end of the Cold War, eyes, ears, and antennas stayed. In many ways, China filled the void.”
“CSI has positively identified about four specific facilities as highly likely sites supporting Chinese intelligence operations targeting the U.S. … As you can see … our adversaries are at our doorstep,” he declared.
“We should not be funding a regime that turns around and opens its doors to our greatest adversaries,” Gimenez said. “If reports of rising Chinese activity in Cuba are accurate, then this is no longer just a diplomatic issue. It is a direct security risk to the American people.”
