Cuba, the communist island state, has reached an agreement with China to host a spy post, according to the Wall Street Journal. In exchange for several billion dollars, the Chinese government will be installing installing equipment that could capture all sorts of signals intelligence in the Southeastern United States.
The American South is particularly important to National defense, as it hosts many Army bases such as Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty) in North Carolina, home to the Army’s secretive Delta Force Special Mission Unit. It is unclear whether China’s equipment will be able to reach critical naval base in Norfolk, Virginia.
This major espionage move comes on the heels of the Chinese Spy Balloon crisis in February 2023, where China used spy balloons to surveil major American defense sites. The Biden Administration waited for the balloon to complete its travel over the United States before shooting it down over the Atlantic Ocean.
What the United States will do in turn to retaliate remains to be seen. In 1962, President Kennedy took major steps to stop the Soviets basing missiles in Cuba by establishing a quarantine around the island and preparing to go to war. The Soviets eventually backed down, but the United States had to remove its own missiles in Turkey.
China has nowhere near the amount of bases that America has overseas, but it is building a network of ports around the world from which it could project its influence. The Cuban spy post is a direct message to America, showing that China considers itself equal to America and will engage in similar spy operations in America’s zone of influence.
If you have a phone using chips made in China, or have an app developed in China, they are ALREADY monitoring your phone.