A new radar site under construction in Cuba and believed to be linked with China has the potential to spy on a nearby United States naval base, a Washington think-tank says.
Building on the facility began three years ago, east of the city of Santiago de Cuba, and once completed would be a “powerful tool” to monitor US military signals, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report this week.
The island of Cuba is less than 150km from the US mainland and would be an ideal location for China to spy on its greatest geo-political rival.
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The CSIS said it analysed satellite imagery of the radar site, which has antenna equipment with a diameter of about 130m to 200m.
It could be able to monitor signals as far as 5500km to 15,000km away, according to the think tank.
And Chinese access to the radar base would enable its spies to eavesdrop on the US naval station at Guantanamo Bay on Cuba, only 73km east of Santiago, the CSIS said.
The study was reported by the Wall Street Journal and other American media outlets.
But in a social media post, a Cuban government official denied his country was allowing China to base intelligence facilities on its land, reports Reuters.
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“(The) Wall Street Journal persists in launching an intimidation campaign related to #Cuba,” said Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio.
“Without citing a verifiable source or showing evidence, it seeks to scare the public with tales about Chinese military bases that do not exist and no one has seen, including the US embassy in Cuba.”
On Tuesday a US State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the report, but said American officials were “closely monitoring” China’s presence in Cuba.
“We know that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is going to keep trying to enhance its presence in Cuba and the United States is going to keep working to disrupt it,” they said.
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