MIAMI, United States — China’s Minister of Public Security, Wang Xiaohong, met this Friday in the Chinese capital with Cuba’s Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, reportedly to boost cooperation in law enforcement and security between the two countries, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.
The meeting was reported by the Cuban Embassy in China, but as of the time this note was published, it had not been covered by official Cuban media.
Wang — also a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) — “reaffirmed China’s willingness to work with Cuba to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of both parties and countries.”
He also added that Beijing intends to “further solidify the ministerial meeting mechanism, enhance personnel exchanges and law enforcement capacity building, deepen practical cooperation in law enforcement and security, [and] safeguard the security and interests of both countries,” with the goal of “making greater contributions to building a closer community with a shared future between China and Cuba.”
For his part, Álvarez — a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba — expressed Havana’s “willingness to further strengthen coordination and cooperation with China to jointly address security risks and challenges.”
Recent Ties Between Havana and Beijing
In February of this year, Admiral Alvin Holsey, head of the United States Southern Command, warned before the Senate Armed Services Committee that “the Cuban regime maintains close ties with China, Russia, and Iran, and continues to play an important role in the Russian intelligence apparatus in the Western Hemisphere.”
He also noted that “in 2023, the Cuban regime signed 19 bilateral cooperation agreements with China, including an agreement with the Ministry of Public Security to provide training to Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior,” and stated that “Cuba continues to allow the People’s Republic of China to operate electronic intelligence-gathering facilities on the island,” which, in his view, constitutes “a significant threat” to U.S. security.
Earlier, in December 2024, Wang Xiaohong himself was received in Havana by Raúl Castro and met with Miguel Díaz-Canel. On that occasion, the Cuban ruler expressed “special thanks” for China’s support and highlighted cooperation “in addressing issues of mutual interest and in facing common challenges, including the need to strengthen cybersecurity.” He also described the visit as “an expression of support in confronting policies of cultural and hegemonic colonization, as well as subversion.”
For years, China has been a key provider of telecommunications infrastructure on the island (Huawei, ZTE, and TP-Link), through which the regime is also believed to have imported surveillance and censorship tools.
Satellite images released a year ago by The Wall Street Journal indicated progress in the construction of electronic listening stations in Bejucal, Wajay, Calabazar, and El Salao (Santiago de Cuba), something denied by both the Cuban and Chinese regimes.
In August 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping stated that “China greatly values Cuba’s firm and consistent support for China on issues affecting China’s core interests and will continue to firmly support Cuba in defending its national sovereignty, opposing foreign interference and the blockade, and doing everything possible to provide support for Cuba’s economic and social development.”
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