Space photos indicate the possible development, on Cuban territory, of “Chinese” electronic stations for the purpose of intercepting information.
The facility – located about 70 miles from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay – includes structures that were previously undocumented.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the new findings follow a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that China and Cuba have discussed closer ties in the defense and intelligence sectors, including the creation of a new joint military training facility on the island and a facility with interception infrastructure.
In the hypogastrium
The concern about the stations, former officials and analysts say, is that China is using Cuba’s geographic proximity to the southeastern United States to intercept sensitive communications from U.S. military bases, space stations and military and commercial maritime activities.
Chinese facilities on the island “could also improve China’s use of telecommunications networks to spying on citizens from the US,” says Leland Lazarus, a specialist in China-Latin America relations at the University of Florida.
Updates
The authors of the report, after analyzing several years of satellite imagery, found that Cuba has significantly improved and expanded its electronic espionage facilities in recent years.
They even identified four such locations: In Behiukal (Bejucal), in The Hall (The Hall), in Wow (Wajay) and in Kalambazar (Garbazaar).
While some of the locations described in the CSIS report, such as Behiucal, have been previously identified, satellite imagery provides new details about its potential, its development over time, but also possible ties with China.
“These are active sites with a evolutionary set of possible actions“, says Matthew Funagiole, editor-in-chief of the report.
The report deepens concerns about great-power competition in the Caribbean and elsewhere in Latin America, where Washington has for decades tried to prevent rivals from gaining a military and economic advantage.
Notably, China manufactures a big port off the coast of Peru in the Pacific, while Russia recently sent a nuclear-powered submarine capable of launching cruise missiles, as well as a frigate, to Havana harbor.
The Cuban embassy did not respond to your request The Wall Street Journal to comment on the post.
The report says that at two of the sites near Havana – Behiukal and Calabazar – large drawn plates appeared, apparently to monitor and communicate with satellites.
Useful for China
The report notes that while Cuba does not have satellites, such antennas would be useful to China, which runs a major space program.
Guantanamo
The newest antenna was installed at Bethukal last January, said the report, which highlighted other infrastructure upgrades at the sites over the past decade.
The most recent of the four sites is in El Salao, on the outskirts of Santiago, in the eastern part of the country and relatively close to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
Infrastructure construction began there in 2021, and the site appears to have been designed to accommodate a large formation of antennas, which can be used to find and intercept electronic signals, the report said.
The US and Russia have largely abandoned this type of antenna array, but China manufactures them in large numbers. militarized outposts in the South China Sea.
With information from the Wall Street Journal