Leaders in Washington and Beijing are working to improve U.S.-China relations. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with President Xi Jinping in China in June 2023 to reopen communication lines between the countries. Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, is also visiting China for four days starting July 6, 2023, to stabilize U.S.-China economic ties.
However, the security issues between the two countries may take longer to address. In February 2023, the U.S. military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over the country, derailing Blinken’s planned diplomatic trip to China. Recent news reports suggest that China is making deals with Cuba to set up an electronic eavesdropping station on the island nation, just 90 miles from Florida. These efforts reflect China’s aim to grow its influence in Latin America and the Caribbean.
A Biden administration official stated in June that China’s spying from Cuba is an ongoing issue and that U.S. intelligence knew China had upgraded existing espionage facilities in Cuba in 2019. China’s planned spy base and military training facility in Cuba would be located near the U.S. naval station in Guantanamo Bay.
This location would allow Chinese intelligence officers to intercept sensitive military information transmitted between U.S. military commands, track senior U.S. diplomatic and military leaders, monitor U.S. naval and commercial ship movements, and gain details about U.S. military exercises, conferences, and training with various Latin American and Caribbean countries. It could also help China spy on U.S. citizens through telecommunications networks.
U.S. officials have long suspected Chinese telecommunications companies such as Huawei and ZTE of setting up servers and network equipment around the world, including in Cuba, to collect sensitive information about local government leaders and private citizens.
Chinese companies such as China Harbor Engineering Company have constructed dozens of deep-water port projects in Latin American and Caribbean countries, where Chinese intelligence agencies could track U.S. commercial or naval ship movements around important sea lanes like the Panama Canal. This could help China understand where to restrict U.S. maritime routes during a potential military conflict.
Chinese companies have also built or operated 12 space research facilities in South America that can be used for legitimate space research. However, U.S. officials have voiced concern that these same sites could be used to spy on U.S. satellites and intercept sensitive information. Additionally, Chinese police forces are becoming a growing presence around the world.
In April 2023, the FBI arrested two Chinese citizens for allegedly operating an illegal police station in New York City’s Chinatown. China allegedly operates 100 of these police outposts worldwide, with 14 of them in eight Latin American and Caribbean countries. China has also been donating anti-bullet vests, helmets, and vehicles to local security forces and training Latin American and Caribbean law enforcement officers.
Chinese technology companies Huawei, ZTE, Dahua, and Hikvision have donated surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology to city governments in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, and Suriname. While these technologies help Latin American and Caribbean governments reduce crime, they could also be used to spy on U.S. government personnel living in these countries. The U.S. has banned some of these companies out of concern they spy for the Chinese government. China’s participation in law enforcement activities in these countries undermines the U.S.’s position as the region’s preferred security partner.
Moreover, the supply of the drug fentanyl has become a major source of conflict between the U.S. and China. In April 2023, the Biden administration declared fentanyl an emerging threat to U.S. national security. The fentanyl global supply chain starts in various pharmaceutical company labs in China and often ends on U.S. streets. The U.S. Treasury and Justice departments have sanctioned or charged several Chinese companies and individuals for knowingly selling fentanyl precursors to Mexican cartel operatives, who then produce the deadly fentanyl and sell it to Americans.
