At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 3, spokesperson Mao Ning said in response to a question about "China may set up four listening stations in Cuba": "We have taken note of the relevant reports, and we have also noted that Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister De Cossio pointed out that the relevant reports have no factual basis and are pure fantasy."
Spokeswoman Mao Ning refuted a July 1 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, titled "Secret Signals: Declassifying China's Intelligence Activities in Cuba."
According to the report, there has been a recent trend towards an increase in the number of electronic listening posts in Cuba, which are likely to be linked to China. As of press time, it is still firmly in the front page of the CSIS official website.
The report is classified as part of a CSIS project called "Hidden reach." The project specifically targets China, claiming to use open-source data and satellite imagery to reveal China's remote influence that has not yet been taken seriously. Since July last year, a total of five electronic reports have been published.
A brief overview of the logic of the "Secret Signal" report. It begins by mentioning that the US state of Florida has many military bases and test sites, and Cuba, which is less than 100 miles from Florida, is particularly well suited to spy on the United States. The report then lists four locations in Cuba that are capable of spying on the United States. He stressed that "access to signals intelligence on Cuba will open a new window for China, which China cannot do within its own territory". A closer reading reveals that this sentence is not a clear judgment, but rather a hint that China may have such a motive. It can be said that the person who wrote the report knew very well that there was no evidence for the so-called "China spying on the United States in Cuba", so he chose to use the Spring and Autumn penmanship. By the same logic, in detailing the four "surveillance sites", the report describes it as follows:
"under suspicion of possible links to Chinese intelligence activities";
"Unconfirmed rumors suggest that China played a role in the construction or upgrading of the facility";
"Even if China does not have direct access to Cuban facilities, the data collected by Cuba can be shared with the Chinese side."
At this point, we can infer that this report, which is full of speculation, may not have been intended to prove anything, and that widespread suspicion has served its purpose.
Combined with the reactions of all parties. Cuba's deputy foreign minister, the Chinese embassy in the United States, and the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs all refuted the refuge one after another. Even a spokesman for the U.S. State Department refused to confirm the veracity of the report.
U.S. State Department spokesman Patel said at a press conference on the 2nd, "I will not comment or confirm the report." So the reporter asked, since the United States has carried out espionage and surveillance operations all over the world, if China has a presence in Cuba, what threat can it pose? "We don't want China to conduct surveillance operations in such a close area," Patel said. And it was this answer that was caught by Matthew Lee, a veteran reporter from the Associated Press who often spoke amazingly.
If you have concerns about China's possible presence or actions in Cuba, and have legitimate concerns, how can it be incompatible for Chinese mainland to have concerns about US actions in Taiwan, Matthew Lee asks?
Patel refused to respond and hastily ended the press conference.
In the second half of his question-and-answer session on this topic, spokesperson Mao Ning mentioned the US blockade and sanctions against Cuba that have lasted for more than 60 years. This is actually a simple truth, if you stop creating enemies, you don't have to worry about being approached by enemies.
Author丨Chen Chen, Beijing reporter of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News