Image Credentials: Image Title: China and Cuba Pledge Expanded Intelligence and Security Cooperation Source: (Gemini) Date: August 2025. Attribution: Created by AI-generated imagery (Gemini), it does not depict a real-world scene.
By Staff Writer | Open Chronicle with Agencies
Beijing, August 26, 2025 – China’s top intelligence official has pledged closer security and intelligence collaboration with Cuba, in a move that underscores deepening ties between the two countries and raises concerns in Washington.
Chen Yixin, China’s minister of state security, met with Lieutenant General Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, head of Cuba’s Interior Ministry, in Beijing. According to a statement by the Chinese Ministry posted on social media, Chen promised to expand intelligence sharing and security cooperation, building on the understandings reached by President Xi Jinping and Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez during a meeting in Moscow in May.
Chen said Beijing seeks to “strengthen cooperation in the field of intelligence and security, safeguard the national security and social stability of the two countries, and make new progress in building a China-Cuba community with a shared future,” the South China Morning Post reported.
The visit comes amid heightened scrutiny of China’s intelligence activities in Cuba. In 2023, reports suggested that Beijing and Havana had signed a deal to establish an eavesdropping site on the island. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, identified a signals intelligence facility under construction near Santiago de Cuba, about 50 miles from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. CSIS said the site was one of four installations supporting Chinese surveillance operations targeting the United States.
Analysts believe the latest talks signal Beijing’s determination to press ahead. Ryan C. Berg, director of the Americas Program at CSIS, said the meeting served “to show continued support for this regime, but also to show that even as a lot of these sites that the Chinese are likely using for [signals intelligence] collection are exposed publicly, they intend to continue this form of cooperation, likely because it’s highly strategic and important for the Chinese.”
China’s Ministry of State Security, which has expanded significantly under Chen, is tasked with domestic surveillance, intelligence gathering, counterintelligence, and cyber operations. Western officials have grown increasingly concerned about its reach, citing expanded Chinese espionage and influence campaigns. The FBI has ranked countering Chinese intelligence as one of its highest priorities.
Cuba’s Interior Ministry, which oversees police and state security, has long been a central pillar of the island’s political system. During his visit, Álvarez Casas also held talks with Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong. According to China’s state news agency Xinhua, Wang pledged to enhance personnel exchanges, strengthen law enforcement capacity building, and deepen bilateral cooperation. Cuban state newspaper Granma briefly reported on Álvarez Casas’s meeting with Wang but made no mention of his talks with Chen.
In Washington, lawmakers have pressed for closer monitoring of Beijing’s intelligence activities in the Caribbean. After revelations of suspected Chinese operations in Cuba, members of Congress requested a “comprehensive threat assessment” from the Department of Homeland Security. They warned that China could use Cuba as a forward base to collect intelligence on U.S. military and communications.
The strengthening of China-Cuba security ties highlights both Havana’s reliance on foreign partners and Beijing’s determination to expand its global intelligence footprint.