China weighs putting military troops in Cuba, according to report

[Boats]

China weighs putting military troops in Cuba, according to report
By: Guy Taylor - The Washington Times News - 06-20-23
Re: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...cuba-accordin/

China and Cuba are in talks to establish a joint military training facility that could lead to the stationing of Chinese military troops on the communist island less than 100 miles from Florida, U.S. intelligence reports indicate.

The Biden administration has contacted Cuban officials to try and derail the plan, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that the China-Cuba negotiations relating to the facility are at an advanced stage but not complete.

China’s communist leadership has increased defense ties with several Latin American nations over the past decade, but the purported Cuba training facility talks have not previously been disclosed. The Washington Times was unable to immediately verify The Wall Street Journal report, which cited officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

News of the development sparked concern in Washington on Tuesday, a day after Secretary of Antony Blinken met in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top officials as part of the Biden administration’s attempt to cool friction with China that has heated up on a range of fronts in recent years.

Asked about the new troop report, an unnamed senior administration official told Politico that the U.S. “can’t confirm on that reporting or comment on that specifically.”

“We continue to be concerned about [China’s] longstanding activities with Cuba,” the official added, noting that Beijing “will keep trying to enhance its presence in Cuba, and we will keep working to disrupt it.”While tensions are most notably high over China’s pressure campaign against Taiwan, efforts by Beijing to ramp up spying and military activities targeting the United States have also been a source of growing concern in Washington in recent months.

Tuesday’s developments come just weeks after Biden administration officials said the U.S. intelligence community is monitoring a Chinese spy base in Cuba that Beijing has been operating on the island since at least 2019. That revelation came in the wake of tensions surrounding a Chinese spy balloon that traversed airspace over the United States in February before being shot down by U.S. fighter jets off the coast of South Carolina.

Beijing, which is reported to have offered billions of dollars to cash-strapped Cuba in exchange for hosting Chinese spying and military activities, has accused Washington of hyping the developments.

National security analysts have described the geopolitical posturing between China and the United States as a new kind of Cold War between the world’s most prominent powers, which remain deeply connected through trade despite the rising tensions.

Several nations across Latin America have found themselves in the midst of economic, diplomatic and political competition between Washington and Beijing.

China currently has no combat forces in Latin America. The Wall Street Journal report noted that the U.S. has dozens of military bases throughout the Pacific, where it stations more than 350,000 troops — a factor that Beijing often points to when pushing back on American efforts to contain China’s military and economic rise in East Asia and globally.

Cuba’s Communist government is battling a deep economic crisis, including widespread shortages of basic goods and record number of Cubans seeking to leave the country for the U.S. in 2022. Cuban President

After the Trump administration reinstated trade and travel sanctions on the island, Cuba is suffering a deep economic slump, with widespread shortages of food, fuel and medicine that have prompted a record-breaking outflow of migrants to the United States in the last year. China is Cuba’s largest single export market and one of the island’s biggest foreign trading partners overall.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was in Italy Tuesday, meeting with Pope Francis and with representatives of the U.N. food agency officials, traveled to both Russia and China late last year, meeting with Mr. Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC.
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Personal note: JUST WHAT WE NEED ANOTHER CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS - in Cuba & China
Re: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...cuba-accordin/
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They are putting the heat on the US for lack of a better agreement on the Nuclear
Weapons issues. One again that's way to close to the USA and could do very bad
damage if allowed to bring them in. Russia tried but we stopped that maneuver
short of launching our nukes.
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We have to mend some fences pretty quick - or we will be out gunned - by China.
If not Cuba - they will try to take P.I. and/or Tiawan for countermeasures.
Something has to be done to prevent all these inhabitation's and bad blood
or; its going to get real ugly fast - and don't forget the Little Fat man - and
his nuclear stockpiles - that he's just dying to launch!
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The heat is on - the pressure will increase over time and moreso and I'm
sure if Russia gets its ass kicked any harder he will want to join in to
destroy the US and its NATO members - just for the hell of it and to
save face.
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IT'S GOING TO GET REAL UGLY - unless something isn't fixed!
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