In response to information released by the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that Cuba will allow China to set up an intelligence base, Washington and Havana have both spoken out.
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| Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio. (Source: AFP) |
On June 8, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio affirmed that the information provided by the WSJ about the secret agreement between Beijing and Havana regarding the above secret intelligence base is false.
Stressing that these are baseless slanders, the diplomat affirmed that Cuba, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Latin America as a Zone of Peace , rejects any foreign military presence in the region, including the US military presence in the easternmost province of Guantánamo.
Meanwhile, on the same day, speaking to MSNBC news agency, White House national security coordinator John Kirby also denied the WSJ 's information.
“I have seen the reports in the press. That is not accurate. What I can tell you is that from the first day I took office, we have been concerned about China’s influence activities around the world … We will be watching very closely,” he said.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder stressed that the above information is incorrect, affirming: "We do not see China or Cuba building any such spy stations."
Earlier the same day, the WSJ newspaper reported that Beijing and Havana signed a secret agreement to build a Chinese electronic reconnaissance facility on the Caribbean island nation, which can monitor communications throughout the Southeast United States.
The newspaper quoted unnamed US officials as saying that China would pay Cuba “several billion dollars” to build the facility.
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