NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
China’s communist government is suspected of using four bases in Cuba as electronic intelligence gathering sites targeting the United States, according to House congressional testimony.
Ryan C. Berg, a Latin affairs security expert, told a House Homeland Security subcommittee that three of the suspected spy bases are near Havana on the north coast and a fourth is on the opposite side of the island near Santiago de Cuba.
As many as 12 signals intelligence sites have been identified in Cuba.
“Due to Cuba’s proximity to Florida, these facilities grant China [signals intelligence] coverage of around 20 key bases and installations on the peninsula,” said Mr. Berg, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He testified Tuesday during a hearing of the Homeland subcommittee on transportation and maritime security.
Subcommittee Chairman Carlos Gimenez, Florida Republican, said the Chinese spy sites in Cuba represent “one of the most brazen intelligence operations ever attempted near the American mainland, and places our military operations, commercial activity and communications squarely in the crosshairs of a hostile foreign power.”
Mr. Berg said the Chinese spy bases near Havana are located at Bejucal, Wajay and Calabazar. Bejucal was used in the past by Soviet intelligence, he said.
The fourth base is located at El Salao on the southeastern end of the island.
Satellite images of the sites made public during the hearing reveal recent construction at the Bejucal facility and signs of the installation of a new antenna.
“The CSIS open-source reports have brought unprecedented clarity to the scope and capabilities of several suspected Chinese SIGINT sites in Cuba, offering fresh insights into how they may be used to monitor sensitive military, commercial, and government activity across the region, but especially in the United States,” Mr. Berg said.
Significant U.S. military installations in and around Florida include Naval Air Station Pensacola, Tyndall Air Force Base, MacDill Air Force Base, Naval Air Station Key West, Kings Bay Submarine Base, Cape Canaveral and the U.S. Southern Command.
Chinese intelligence services moved into Cuba following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, when Moscow operated an electronic spy base at Lourdes, Cuba, that at its peak involved 1,500 technical spies.
China has supplied Cuba with $369 million in development financing but the amount is short of what Havana needs for its ailing system.
Cuba is facing its worst economic crisis in years with 30% inflation and declining gross domestic product, Mr. Berg said.
In addition to spying from Cuba, China is supplying the Cuban government with tools for authoritarian control, including telecommunications gear capable of censoring the internet.
Cuba’s main telecom infrastructure is powered by Chinese state-run companies, including Huawei, ZTE and TP-Link.
The Chinese electronic listening posts were highlighted in press reports in June 2023. The reports were initially denied by the Biden administration. Then-White House spokesman John Kirby later confirmed the reports but stated the Chinese intelligence presence dated to the first Trump administration, implying the problem did not begin under President Joseph R. Biden.
Mr. Berg said the China-Cuba nexus provided Beijing with valuable intelligence in exchange for economic and other support to Cuba.
“Beyond the intelligence efforts, collaborating with Cuba in this domain expands China’s military and intelligence footprint across the globe,” Mr. Berg said.
President Trump has made pushing back against Chinese encroachment in the Western Hemisphere a priority.
One key effort has been to secure the strategic Panama Canal from Chinese commercial port facilities located at either end of the waterway that could be used in a crisis or conflict to disrupt shipping.
Leland Lazarus, a national security expert at Florida International University, testified that Chinese signals intelligence operations are supporting Beijing’s military and space goals.
Report: China working to influence selection of next pope
China is attempting to influence the selection of the next pope as Catholic Church cardinals gathered Wednesday for a papal conclave — Latin for locked room — in selecting a successor to Pope Francis, who died April 21.
The National Catholic Register, a major news source for the faithful, reported both China and Germany have taken steps that appear aimed at influencing the outcome of the conclave.
Chinese authorities on April 28 “elected” two new bishops despite the lack of a pope to ratify episcopal appointments. One of the new Beijing-approved bishops was in a diocese that already has a Vatican-recognized bishop.
“The development is the latest in a string of questionable outcomes since the Vatican signed a 2018 agreement to engage in a joint process with the Chinese government on episcopal appointments, an accord that the Vatican has acknowledged has been repeatedly abused, yet nonetheless renewed in 2024,” the Register reported.
In 2018, Pope Francis recognized seven illicitly ordained Chinese bishops as part of the Vatican-Beijing deal.
For Germany, the issue is gay marriage. The German Bishops’ Conference on April 23 published a guide for blessing ceremonies of couples in “irregular situations” including same-sex unions.
The activity defied the Vatican’s 2023 guidance that permits only “spontaneous” blessings for people in same-sex relationships not “legitimation of [the couple’s] status,” the newspaper reported.
The report said both actions “clearly meant to influence what goes on inside the Sistine Chapel.” Normally, the period between popes, or interregnum, is a period noted for a lack of institutional activity.
“Any movement during this period is not accidental — it has heightened significance and is meant to have an impact,” the newspaper stated.
China is likely seeking to foment discord among the cardinals in undermining the prospects of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who promoted the 2018 agreement with China and was Pope Francis’ secretary of state.
Beijing is thus seeking to elevate Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, reportedly a cardinal favored by the Chinese, the report said.
China also wants a pope who will allow it to solidify Chinese control over Catholics in China under the 2018 agreement. The signal to the Vatican is that any reversal of the accord would put Chinese Catholics in greater jeopardy.
The Register report said the meddling may have the opposite effect. “This kind of ecclesial saber-rattling could prompt the cardinal-electors to favor a pope more willing than Pope Francis to confront German intransigence and Chinese bullying,” the report said.
Harvard scientist convicted of hiding Beijing ties goes to work in China
Former Harvard chemist and nanoscientist Charles Lieber, convicted for lying to investigators about secret work for China, has joined Tsinghua University as a professor and is likely bringing valuable expertise from Harvard to the Chinese military-civilian fusion program.
Lieber, former chairman of the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, was found guilty in 2021 of hiding his role in China’s “Thousand Talents” program that recruited Americans with expertise.
Harvard currently is a target of the Trump administration, which has cut federal funding for one of America’s elite universities.
Lieber was sentenced in April 2023 to two days in prison, two years of supervised release and six months of home confinement. The government had sought a 90-day prison term.
At Tsinghua in Shenzhen, Lieber will conduct research at a graduate school, according to a May 1 social media post by the Chinese school.
Lieber stated in a post that his goal for the coming years is to ‘work with everyone to build a global science and technology hub and realize more scientific dreams in the vibrant and innovative city of Shenzhen.”
The disgraced scientist is “ready to start a new research journey in Shenzhen and cannot wait to get to work as soon as possible,” the post stated.
Lieber also plans to work as an investigator for the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation.
Security experts say Lieber was a victim of China’s program of “elite capture” that seeks to leverage foreign expertise for Chinese Communist Party goals.
Nanotechnology is among the most significant dual-use technologies with both civilian and military applications.
In announcing his conviction in December 2021, the Justice Department said Lieber was found guilty of concealing his work with the Wuhan University of Technology and his role in the Thousand Talents Program.
He had pleaded not guilty. A jury convicted him of two counts of making false statements to federal investigators, two counts for making false income tax returns and two counts of failing to file IRS reports for foreign bank and financial accounts.
The case involved Lieber conducting sensitive research for the Pentagon at the same time he was secretly paid thousands of dollars from China for scientific work.
As head of a special unit at Harvard, Lieber was paid more than $15 million in federal research grants between 2008 and 2019.
At the same time, he worked secretly as a “strategic scientist” in Wuhan and had a contract with the Thousand Talents program.
“China’s Thousand Talents Plan is one of the most prominent Chinese talent recruitment plans designed to attract, recruit and cultivate high-level scientific talent in furtherance of China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security,” the Justice Department said.
The three-year contract in China included a salary of $50,000 per month and living expenses of up to $150,000. He also received $1.5 million to set up a research laboratory in Wuhan.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.