China and Cuba have been in the process of establishing a new joint military training facility on the island. The American adversaries are operating joint eavesdropping stations to forge stronger defense and intelligence ties, according to a study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The stations are a source of concern, according to former US officials and analysts, who alleged that China is exploiting Cuba's geographical proximity to the southeastern US to intercept "sensitive electronic communications from American military bases, space-launch facilities, and military and commercial shipping," per the Wall Street Journal.
Additionally, China could be using these facilities on the island to "spy on US citizens," said Leland Lazarus, an expert on Chinese relations at Florida International University.
(Courtesy: CSIS)
The CSIS report discovered that Cuba has considerably upgraded and expanded its electronic spying facilities in recent years after analyzing years' worth of satellite imagery. They identified four sites: Bejucal, El Salao, Wajay, and Calabazar. Although some of the sites described in the report, such as the one at Bejucal, have been previously identified as eavesdropping posts, the satellite imagery offers new information regarding their capabilities, development over time, and potential connections to China.
Matthew Funaiole, a senior fellow at CSIS, said: "These are active locations with an evolving mission set."
For the first time, the US intelligence community publicly disclosed that China is pursuing military facilities in Cuba in its annual threat assessment, which was released in February. However, the intelligence community did not get into details.
According to the report, two of the locations close to Havana, Bejucal and Calabazar, have big dish antennas that seem to be intended for satellite monitoring and communication. The study indicates that China, which has a sizable space program, could benefit from the antennas even if Cuba doesn't have any satellites.
Bejucal erected the newest dish antenna in January, according to the report, along with other infrastructure updates at the sites during the previous ten years.
The most current of the four locations - still under construction and not previously made public - is located in El Salao, near Santiago de Cuba in the nation's east and close to the Guantanamo naval facility. The site appears to be intended to house a sizable configuration of antennas known as a circularly placed antenna array, which can be used to locate and intercept electronic signals, according to the study, which dates back to 2021.
When finished, the location might be used to track communications and other electronic signals coming from the Guantanamo facility, according to Funaiole, the author of the CSIS report.
