Officials confirm China spying from Cuba

China has had an “intelligence collection facility” in Cuba since at least 2019, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday night. The comments were in response to a Wall Street Journal report last week that China paid Cuba billions of dollars to set up an electronic eavesdropping outpost to spy on the United States. That report is largely inaccurate, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC. China and Cuba have denied the reports.

What is the United States doing about it? China has tried to set up spy outposts in several countries, Blinken said. But he said the United States has been using diplomacy to dissuade those countries from hosting Chinese bases, and it has been working.

Dig deeper: Read Erica Kwong’s report in World Tour on China cracking down on Western diplomats and businesses.