The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Beijing and Havana are negotiating to establish a joint military training facility in Cuba, something the report acknowledged China would be exploring as a response to further US military entrenchment in Taiwan.
The report cited unnamed US officials and is not confirmed. The officials said the intelligence is based on a reference contained in a US intelligence assessment, which they described as “convincing but fragmentary.”
The officials said that US intelligence reports suggest the talks between the China and Cuba are at an advanced stage but not concluded. They said the Biden administration has contacted Cuba in an attempt to stop the potential deal.
The new claim comes after US accusations that China has had spying capabilities in Cuba since at least 2019, which China has denied. The spying allegations started with another Wall Street Journal report that was published on June 8 that claimed China and Cuba were discussing setting up a spy facility in the Caribbean country.
If the claims about the training facility are true, Beijing’s efforts would clearly be a response to the US building up militarily in areas near China. The Journal report said that some US intelligence officials say “that Beijing sees its actions in Cuba as a geographical response to the US relationship with Taiwan: The US invests heavily in arming and training the self-governing island that sits off mainland China and that Beijing sees as its own.”
Taiwan is roughly 100 miles from the coast of mainland China, about the same distance Cuba is from Florida. The major difference between the two islands is that China considers Taiwan its own territory, while the US does not claim Cuba.
The US withdrew all of its troops from Taiwan in 1979 as part of its normalization deal with China. But in recent years, the US has been boosting diplomatic and military ties with Taiwan. This year, the US deployed about 200 troops to Taiwan to help with training, the largest known US military presence on the island since 1979.
The Journal report also acknowledged that the US has dozens of military bases near China while Beijing does not have a comparable presence in the Western hemisphere. The report reads: “China has no combat forces in Latin America, according to US officials. Meanwhile, the US has dozens of military bases throughout the Pacific, where it stations more than 350,000 troops.”
A nice peaceful tit for tat, and reminder that every action may generate an equal reaction, at least…!!!
I was wondering how long it would take. So far China seems to have responded to our Taiwan adventures by increasing trade and diplomatic niceties with Latin America. We escalated in Taiwan, so they are escalating in Latin America.
We are engaged in a full spectrum war against them – diplomatic and economic so far – and they are fighting back hard as well.
I’m a bit incredulous. But there are rumors that Blinken and Xi got along very well this week. I wonder what prompted that?
Don’t believe it. Beijing (actually the whole world) knows that Washington is preparing a “Maidan in Taipei”, and that it’s imperative they have to prepare for war. Almost certainly Blinken tried to assuage his fears with a “be reasonable” routine, only that they should lower their commercial ambitions and roll back their military development and all would be well. Xi’s pre-emptive answer -a dose of their own medicine- has come in the form of a military/spy base in Cuba putatively forcing Washington to be the “illegal & unprovoked” aggressor.
Biden called Xi a Dictator at a fundraiser yesterday. So much for warming relations. It did, however, cement beliefs that Blinken cannot be trusted.
I don’t think Russia or China pay him much heed, -just the ramblings of an old fool fly-blown poitician.
But the Havana business has to have raised Blinken & Co’s BP … so “warmer relations” ironically. Outplayed, they’re frantically gaming it ever since. What will they pull out of their bag of tricks this time? … another of their bio-weapons perhaps?
Once again, WSJ with “unnamed sources” pushing a China bad article. Murdoch’s anti-China agenda is just in overdrive these days. Xi met Blinken and the talks went well? Better hype some BS anti-China threat with another propaganda piece…
It wasn’t a disaster from I hear. But then again, it might be just another form of propaganda. I doubt Chinese have any intention to consider anything coming out of the Empire of Lies.
That poor WSJ, no one likes their news pages and only one side can stand their editorials occasionally.
Wall Street Journal report … claimed China and Cuba were discussing setting up a spy facility in the Caribbean country.
i told you – spy-balloon launching pads.
“they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”
…. Joni Mitchell
Repeating the lie until it appears to be truth…!
You know if we were a little nicer to Cuba this would not be happening and those Chinese soldiers would not have a opportunity of a plum assignment like a stint in Cuba would be.
You know to be among the 200 to get to go to Cuba and its nightlife has to be a heck of a assignment to wrangle from the bosses.
Assuming this is true, what’s wrong with the idea of joint partnership between two countries and perhaps a silo or two?
Ooops.
And while China is setting up a joint military training facility on Cuba, China should also sail its
war ships through the Florida Strait starting at the north end between Grand Bahama Island and the State of Florida.