White House: China Placing Troops in Cuba Isn’t a Red Line, We ‘Made Our Concerns Very Plain’ — We’ll ‘Mitigate’ Spy Threat

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby responded to a question on whether China putting troops in Cuba is a hard line that the U.S. will not allow China to cross by stating that “we’re watching” what China is trying to do and “we’ve made our concerns very plain and very clear to both countries about our deep concerns over this potential capability.” Kirby also stated that they won’t allow Chinese actions in this hemisphere to endanger American security and “we are taking steps to mitigate any possible threat” from Chinese espionage on the island.

Host José Díaz-Balart asked, “The Wall Street Journal was reporting that, during the Trump administration, the U.S. tracked Chinese telecom companies entering and exiting suspected Chinese spy facilities in Cuba. What is China doing in Cuba, and what steps has the U.S. taken to counter this?”

Kirby responded, “It’s no secret, José, that, in this hemisphere, certainly — and elsewhere around the world — but in this hemisphere, and certainly with Cuba, that China has tried to — has been trying to grow its influence, increase its presence and its capabilities. And we’ve been watching this very, very closely, we’re monitoring it. We have expressed our concerns about this particular issue with Cuba directly to the PRC and directly to Cuban officials. We’re going to keep close tabs on this, and we’re going to make sure that nothing they do in this hemisphere or anywhere else is going to put in jeopardy our national security, our ability to protect information. I can’t get into here on TV the specific steps that we’re taking to counter these potential capabilities that the PRC is trying to put in this hemisphere, but I can assure you that we’re mindful of it and we are taking steps to mitigate any possible threat.”

Díaz-Balart then asked, “We spoke with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) yesterday here on this program, who said that China cannot have troops training in Cuba, that it has to be — he called it a hard line for the U.S. What’s the White House position on that?”

Kirby answered, “Well, again, I mean, we’re watching what they’re trying to do there with Cuba and elsewhere in the hemisphere. And without speaking to too much specific information regarding intelligence, we are not going to allow anything that China’s doing in this hemisphere to jeopardize our national security. And we would let the Chinese and the Cubans…answer questions about the degree to which they’ve inked some kind of deal or where this agreement is. All I can tell you is that we’ve made our concerns very plain and very clear to both countries about our deep concerns over this potential capability.”

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