US confirms China has been spying from Cuban base

China has been using a spy base in Cuba to electronically track signals from U.S. military installations since at least 2019, a Biden administration official said Saturday.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Politico and other outlets that the spy base was an issue that had been inherited from the previous Trump administration, noting it was not constructed under President Biden's watch. The official said that when Biden took office, his administration was "briefed on a number of sensitive PRC efforts around the world to expand its overseas logistics, basing, and collection infrastructure globally," referring to the People's Republic of China.

China had "conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019. This is well-documented in the intelligence record," the official added. Biden was briefed on the issue upon taking office, the official said, and directed his team to address the issue.

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The Wall Street Journal first reported on Thursday that China and Cuba had reached an agreement to allow the construction of an "electronic eavesdropping facility" on the island. The Journal's report was initially dismissed by John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, who said the report was "not accurate." Kirby did say, though, that the U.S. had "real concerns about China's relationship with Cuba."

However, another anonymous official corroborated the Journal's report, though they confirmed the spy base already existed and was not currently being built.

The spy base marks a potential watershed moment between the U.S. and Cuba, a Communist country that had no relations with the U.S. for decades until diplomatic ties were restored in 2015 by former President Barack Obama. Carlos F. de Cossio, a Cuban foreign minister, tweeted that the existence of a Chinese spy base was "scandalous speculation" from the U.S.