Chinese spy base has been operating in Cuba for years: John Kirby

Washington [US], June 13 : After Pentagon dismissed reports of the secret pact between China and Cuba that would enable Beijing to construct a spying facility in the island nation, the US National Security Council official John Kirby has now said that the Chinese spy base in Cuba has been there for years.

Media reports on the same were declared "inaccurate" last week for security reasons, the US official said.

US National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby on Monday that the Chinese spy base operating in Cuba has been there for years.

This comes after the Pentagon dismissed reports of a secret pact between China and Cuba that would enable Beijing to construct an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island, located 160 kilometres from the United States and called it "not accurate".

While speaking with the media on Monday (local time), Kirby was asked if the administration now says that China already does have this intelligence facility in Cuba and the amount of concern this raises for Americans.

To which Kirby refused to speak at length citing security reasons for US' own counterintelligence efforts.

"But", he added, "This is not a new development that China has been trying to achieve some intelligence-gathering capabilities in Cuba. From day one, when we came in, we took this issue seriously. We've taken some steps to try to mitigate the vulnerability of those activities".

On being asked why he didn't confirm all of this when it was first reported earlier last week and asking why the Chinese spying was declared "inaccurate,"

Kirby replied, "It is the sensitive nature of this information that we just simply couldn't go into more detail," he added.

According to the reports, which first appeared in The Wall Street Journal citing unnamed intelligence officials, China had agreed to pay financially hard-pressed Cuba several billion dollars for the spy facility, which would allow China to collect electronic communications from throughout the southeastern United States, where numerous military bases are located, VOA reported.

These reports were declared as "inaccurate" by Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's press secretary on Thursday.

However, he cautioned that the relationship between Cuba and China is something that the Pentagon monitors, along with any type of "coercive activity or belligerent activity" by China in the Western Hemisphere.