“In Cuba, 90 miles off our coast, think about it, China is building military installations in Cuba, and Biden doesn’t want to talk about it,” he said.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the North Carolina Republican Party convention in Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S., June 10, 2023. Portal/Jonathan Drake
Sputnik Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would give China two days to withdraw all of its military assets from Cuba or it would impose tariffs and taxes on its billions of dollars worth of products.
“In Cuba, 90 miles off our coast, think about it, China is building military installations in Cuba, and Biden doesn’t want to talk about it,” Trump said. “When I come back I will inform China that they have 48 hours to get damn spy and military equipment out of Cuba or they will have tariffs and taxes on billions and billions of dollars of things they are supplying us with, they still have it never seen before.
US intelligence services have traced employees of Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE to suspected Chinese spying facilities in Cuba, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing sources familiar with the matter.
According to the report, during Trump’s presidency, US officials obtained tracking data of Huawei and ZTE employees entering and exiting sites suspected of conducting Chinese espionage operations from the island.
The sources said the intelligence reports fueled suspicions within the Trump administration that the tech giants could be instrumental in expanding China’s ability to spy on the United States from Cuba. However, it is not known if this practice continued during the tenure of current US President Joe Biden.
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According to the sources, Huawei and ZTE don’t necessarily make devices that can be used for spying or intelligence gathering, but both specialize in technologies that can facilitate the transmission of data to China.
Huawei denied such allegations in a statement, while ZTE and the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to WSJ’s request for comment, the news outlet noted.
In early June, the WSJ, citing US officials familiar with classified information, reported that China had reached an agreement with Cuba to set up a spy base in the island nation in response to US military activity near China’s borders, including in Taiwan , met. Commenting on the article, John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said the report was “inaccurate”. The Cuban Embassy in Washington said the article contained “completely untrue and unsubstantiated information,” while the Chinese diplomatic mission had no comment.