China says Chinese spying allegations in Cuba are false

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BEIJING, June 12 (Reuters) – China on Monday said claims it was using Cuba as a base for espionage were false and hit out at the U.S. government and media for publishing what it said was information inconsistent.

A Biden administration official said Saturday that China has been spying from Cuba for some time and improved its intelligence-gathering facilities there in 2019. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that a new spy effort was underway on the island, citing US officials. .

“On China’s alleged espionage activities in Cuba, this is false information,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press conference.

“Over the past two days, we have seen the US government and media release a lot of inconsistent information about the so-called allegation… It’s a display of ‘contradictory US,'” Wang said.

The Cuba allegation comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepares to visit China this week. The top US diplomat canceled a planned trip to Beijing in February after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over the United States.

Wang also said he had no information about Blinken’s visit, which would be the first to China by a US secretary of state in five years.

Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio dismissed the Journal’s report, calling it American-made designed to justify a decades-old US economic embargo against the island nation. He said Cuba rejects any foreign military presence in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The White House National Security Council spokesman said Thursday that the Journal’s report was not accurate, but added that Washington has “genuine concerns” about China’s relationship with Cuba and is monitoring it from time to time. close.

Wang said the United States “has no chance of driving a wedge between China and Cuba.”

“We are sincere friends,” he said.

Reporting by Andrew Hayley; Written by Bernard Orr and Ryan Woo; edited by Philippa Fletcher, Robert Birsel

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