Commentary
Cuba has been impoverished by years of communist control, but it possesses a strategic vantage point that China prizes.
Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in his congressional testimony on May 6 that Cuba is a “strategic battleground” with China. Twenty sensitive U.S. government facilities in Florida are in range of the expanding Chinese Cyber and Signals Intelligence Collection network in Cuba.
Even before the Russians minimized their presence in Cuba in 2002, the Chinese were eyeing the Caribbean country.
Berg said that in February 1999, then-Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Chi Haotian visited Cuba and met with his counterpart, then-Defense Minister Raúl Castro.
“According to an article in El Nuevo Herald, the two reportedly signed an agreement granting China access to a number of former Soviet listening stations across the island, including the Bejucal base less than 10 miles from the old Lourdes station,” he noted.
As part of the path toward resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy pledged publicly not to invade Cuba. The Soviets pledged to remove nuclear and “offensive” weapons from Cuba. The Soviets maintained a reduced presence in Cuba for the rest of the Cold War, including an intelligence collection station at Lourdes, outside of Havana, and occasional naval and air visits, while the United States maintained a robust overwatch of Cuba from bases in southern Florida.
Chinese Military and Intelligence Network Grows in Cuba
In the summer of 2023, Cuba leapt onto the front pages with the sudden, surprise news release about a Chinese spy presence in the country. After the media report, the initial response from the Pentagon was to deny the topic.Then, The Associated Press reported there was an anonymous Biden administration official who confirmed that this started in 2019, which was a clever way of deflecting responsibility toward President Donald Trump.
Berg pointed out that then-National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby “reversed course and admitted to China’s spy bases in Cuba, but insisted that its presence had existed since 2019 under the first Trump administration, implying the Biden administration had ‘inherited’ the challenge.”
“Around the same time, reports surfaced that China was pursuing the construction of a military training base in Cuba,” he added.
Kirby had apparently missed the 1999 visit by Gen. Chi Haotian. In July 2024, The Wall Street Journal released additional imagery and reported that the Chinese military and intelligence footprint grew even larger than first reported.
The Chinese regime’s presence in Cuba is just one element of Chinese surveillance surrounding Florida. China has been operating gas and oil platforms that may have intelligence collection capabilities in the Gulf of America (previously known as the Gulf of Mexico) on the western side of Florida.
Gen. Glen VanHerck, former commander of U.S. Northern Command, pointed out, before the Chinese spy balloon episode, the danger of the Chinese infrastructure presence in the Bahamas, only 50 miles to the right of Florida.
Cuba Receives Promises of Chinese Support
Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez in Moscow on May 9 during the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II.The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said about the meeting, “China is ready to work with Cuba to further strengthen their ironclad friendship, build a closer China–Cuba community with a shared future, and set an example of solidarity and cooperation between socialist countries and sincere interaction between developing countries.”
In addition, the BRICS alliance—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—welcomed Cuba into the organization on Jan. 1, 2025, saying that the Caribbean country’s membership would allow it to become “a relevant player on the international stage.” Beijing dominates policy and plans for BRICS.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has developed an alliance with Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and South Africa in its “no limits” strategy to take on the United States, and it appears Cuba is entering this grouping of communist and totalitarian countries.
CCP Lures Latin American Countries With Financial Offer
Following the U.S.–China tariff truce, China hosted a forum with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Beijing on May 13. Left-leaning leaders in Latin America, such as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, were in attendance.The CCP used a Belt and Road Initiative power play and extended a credit line of $9.2 billion to the Latin American countries in attendance, with a very important caveat: The currency used in the line of credit would be the Chinese yuan.
The move, which excluded the global reserve currencies like the U.S. dollar, aimed to promote the yuan while China deepens its ties in the Americas. Of all the opportunities in the Americas, Cuba offers China the greatest return on investment. The short distance to the United States from Cuba allows the CCP a key intelligence observation point and a way to create a counterbalance of world support for Taiwan.
There may not yet be missiles in Cuba, or at least they haven’t been identified, but another Cuban crisis is developing. As a Foreign Affairs article said, “Trump Will Disrupt Three Decades of ‘Benign Neglect’ of American focus on the Americas, with Cuba likely being one of the starting points.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
