China to build spy base in Cuba, says report; US and Cuba cast doubt

China has reached a secret deal with Cuba to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island roughly 100 miles from Florida, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, but the US and Cuban governments cast strong doubt on the report. Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a US Defense Department spokesperson, said: "We are not aware of China and Cuba developing a new type of spy station." In Havana, Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio dismissed the report as "totally mendacious and unfounded," calling it a US fabrication meant to justify Washington's decades-old economic embargo against the island. READ | Scuffle, punches as protesters brawl over California school district’s Pride Month vote The reported deal comes as Washington and Beijing are taking tentative steps to soothe tensions that spiked after a suspected Chinese high-altitude spy balloon crossed the United States before the US military shot it down off the East Coast in February. READ | Flights delayed, school activities cancelled: Raging Canada wildfires wreaks havoc, millions advised to mask up A former US intelligence official said on condition of anonymity that a Chinese listening post would be a “big deal,” marking an expansion of Beijing's spying capabilities and giving it access to signals intelligence as far north as Washington.