The State Department blames TRUMP for Beijing’s surveillance post in Cuba
The mess of the Biden administration’s Chinese spy base: State Department blames TRUMP on Beijing’s surveillance post in Cuba — as White House spokesman turns heel after calling reports “inaccurate”
- “We were as forthright as we should have been,” Admiral John Kirby said
- sec. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is probably planning a trip to Beijing soon
- Reactions follow report China plans surveillance base in Cuba
The White House on Monday defended the decision to take down a public report on China’s plan to build a base in Cuba for electronic surveillance.
National Security Spokesperson Adm. John Kirby laid an explosive device Wall Street Journal reported on the base last week calling it “not accurate” — and on Monday defended its decision based on the sensitive nature of the revelation, even though the government later acknowledged that Beijing’s plan is real.
“We were as candid as we should have known about the nature of this information,” Kirby said at the White House, defending his position after being questioned by reporters.
“We simply couldn’t get into the details before the first story came out,” he said.
“We were as forthright as we should have been,” said White House security spokesman Adm. John Kirby
Kirby returned to a series of questions about the issue and whether the White House was as transparent as it could have been.
On Thursday, he told MSNBC, “I saw that press release, it’s not right. What I can tell you is that we have been concerned about China’s influence activities around the world since day one of this administration; especially in this hemisphere and in this region we are watching this very, very closely.”
He also told the paper after publication that the report was “not accurate,” adding: “We remain confident that we are able to meet all of our security obligations domestically and in the region.” The report said China had agreed to pay Cuba several billion dollars for the station, sparking other Cold War deadlocks over the island.
On Saturday, the government confirmed the existence of a Chinese spy base on the island, which is about 90 miles from the US, since 2019. It based the statement on newly released intelligence.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken pointed out that he was briefed in 2021 on PRC intelligence upgrades dating back to 2019
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reportedly on the verge of a trip to Beijing
On Monday, Kirby attacked those who would expose sensitive national security agencies, defending the decision to try to crack down.
“Unfortunately, not everyone seems to take it as seriously as we do, because clearly there is a source or sources that think it is useful in some way to put this kind of information in the public stream, and that is absolutely not the case,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that oversight returned to the Trump administration, shifting the blame to Biden’s predecessor, who will return to action in 2024 and is due to appear in court in Miami on Tuesday.
“When this government took office in January 2021, we were briefed on some sensitive efforts by Beijing around the world to expand their overseas base logistics infrastructure to allow them to project and maintain military power at greater distances,” Blinken said. “They considered a number of locations around the world for that expansion, including intelligence gathering facilities for intelligence gathering in Cuba. Based on the information we have, the PRC even upgraded its intelligence-gathering facilities in Cuba in 2019.”
Blinken is reportedly planning a trip to Beijing within days, having sunk his latest visit amid the wrangling over China’s spy balloon.