China, Cuba strike deal allowing Beijing to build spy base off US coast: Report

China has struck a deal with Cuba worth billions of dollars to allow it to build a spy base off the coast of the United States, the Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, reported on Thursday.

For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

Cuba is around 100 miles from Florida, home to the US Central Command [CENTCOM] headquarters. According to the US officials cited in the report, the spy base would allow China to listen in on electronic communications, such as emails, phone calls and satellite transmissions.

News of the reported agreement drew quick condemnation from US lawmakers.

“This is an unbelievable escalation by the #CCP. They are hellbent on destroying our country and they don't care what it takes. We CANNOT let this go unanswered,” Republican Congresswoman Lisa McClain said in a tweet.

US-China relations have soured in recent years, and the top US diplomat scrapped a trip to Beijing earlier this year hours before he was scheduled to depart Washington. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the decision after a Chinese spy balloon was spotted near Alaska and traveled across the entire continental United States. President Joe Biden ordered the balloon to be shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

US officials have made no secret about their desire to reschedule Blinken’s trip. Still, China has reportedly been against it out of fear that the US will reveal more information about the spy balloon, which Beijing has claimed was for civilian purposes.

Last month, China rejected an offer by the Pentagon for a phone call between their defense chiefs. But last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin walked over and shook hands with his Chinese counterpart during a dinner at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

CIA Director Bill Burns made a quiet trip to China in May to stress the need to maintain lines of communication between Washington and Beijing, a US official previously told Al Arabiya English.

Read more: Chinese fighter jet carried out ‘unnecessarily aggressive’ move near US plane