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China is likely spying on the United States from Cuba, according to a new report by the US think tank Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). CSIS used satellite images and public information in its report to analyze four places in Cuba that China is likely using for espionage against the US. This news follows last month’s developmentsthat four Russian ships, including a nuclear submarine and a frigate, docked in Cuba.

Last year, the Biden administration initially denied Chinese espionage in Cuba, as John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, called a June 2023 Wall Street Journal report describing that connection “not accurate.” But an unnamed Biden administration official then told CNN that month that China “conducted an upgrade of its intelligence collection facilities in Cuba in 2019” and that “[t]his is well-documented in the intelligence record.” Days later, Reuters reported that the Biden administration expressed concerns to Cuba about the island hosting Chinese spy operations.

The recent CSIS report indicates that there is a precedence for China engaging in such spying, as the USSR used the Lourdes Signals Intelligence Complex in Cuba to spy on the US during the Cold War. CSIS deciphered four sites in Cuba that use SIGINT (signals intelligence) as sites that China is likely using to gather intelligence on the United States.

The first is Bejucal, which the report states is the largest SIGINT site in Cuba. It is on hilly terrain overlooking Havanna, and held the USSR’s nuclear weapons during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. According to the report, there has been suspicion “for decades” that Bejucal is a site of Chinese espionage, based on both unclassified government documents, Congressional testimony, and Spanish and English media. The report indicated that Senator Marco Rubio had even mentioned the site by name in 2016, demanding that Cuba “[kick] out this Chinese listening station in Bejucal.” Further, satellite imagery shows that Bejucal underwent “major updates over the past decade,” including “the construction of a mysterious new radome that may contain a radar or ELINT system.”

The second site is El Salao, located in southeastern Cuba. This site coincides with reports since 1999 that China has a “large antenna field” in Santiago de Cuba province. The CSIS report further states that this location would be highly strategic for China, given its proximity to Guantanamo Bay. While CSIS was unable to locate a SIGINT facility in Santiago de Cuba, it was able to locate one in El Salao, just east of Santiago de Cuba. In 2021, construction began in El Salao on a circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA), a technology used by both the US and USSR to spy on each other during the Cold War. While CSIS stated that both the US and Russia have turned away from such technology, China has been building more and more CDAAs, especially in the South China Sea.

The third site is Wayjay, approximately 10 kilometers north of Bejucal. The number of antennas at this site has grown from one in 2002 to 12, as well as “significant operations and support facilities, and even a small solar farm.” According to the report, “the variety of antennas present is a clear indication that Wajay is responsible for a reasonably complex SIGINT mission set.”

The fourth site is Calabazar, located near Wayjay and housing “over a dozen” dish antennas.

The CCP and Cuba have categorically denied accusations that China is using Cuban territory to spy on the US. “China’s cooperation with Cuba is done aboveboard and does not target any third party. We certainly would not accept any deliberate vilification and smear from anyone,” stated Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, claimed that the allegations were “hyped up” and “nothing but slander.” A Global Times editorial claimed that the accusations are “…a clear case of concocting charges without substantial evidence,” and that “[t]he WSJ, CSIS, and the forces behind were not seeking objectivity and fairness, but for concocting a ‘dirty bomb’ of public opinion to align with Washington to suppress China and Cuba.” Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio stated that “…the report was riddled with tales about Chinese military bases that do not exist and no one has seen…”

While the CCP and Cuba continue to deny allegations of Chinese spying on the US in Cuba, the Biden administration has at least tacitly admitted to them in 2023, with Senator Marco Rubio raising concerns years before. As China escalates its rhetoric and grey-zone warfare against Taiwan, it remains to be seen how China will leverage its intelligence assets in Cuba against the US.