USA’s southern ‘Spy Center’ has been listening since 2019
Chinese agents attempted to infiltrate a military base in Alaska on June 3, disguising themselves as tourists, according to a statement released by the United States. This comes as a surprise, as the province where the Pentagon’s most secret work is located was not expected to be a target for Chinese espionage. The largely vacant land in Alaska provides the military with space and protection to conduct large training exercises. US soldiers have launched an investigation into the matter, and the Chinese agents were caught during routine checks.
A week after this development, the US announced that China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since 2019. The existence of the Chinese spy base was confirmed by The Wall Street Journal report, stating that China and Cuba have reached an agreement in principle to set up an electronic listening station on the island. According to an official who decided to remain anonymous, Chinese officials studied regions covering the Atlantic Ocean, Latin America, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific before choosing Cuba. The official also stated that an existing facility on the island was upgraded in 2019 for an espionage operation, and Cuba received a promise to pay millions of dollars from China in return for this station.
However, the White House National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby said, “I saw the news, it’s not true.” Also, the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío denied the news in a Twitter post on Saturday. Despite the denials, the US government is working to halt China’s efforts to expand its espionage operations and believes some progress has been made through diplomacy and specific actions.
