Cuba’s diplomacy on Thursday described as “false and non-existent” a report in the American press about an alleged agreement that will allow China to install a spy base on the island, while the White House and the Pentagon assured that it is “not accurate”.

“The American newspaper Wall Street Journal published (…) the completely false and non-existent information according to which there is an agreement between Cuba and China of a military nature for the installation of an alleged espionage base,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cosio in journalists in Havana.

Cuba “rejects any foreign military presence” in Latin America, “including the numerous US military bases and troops”, he added, estimating that “slanders of this kind are often manufactured by US officials”.

According to the report of the Wall Street Journal, which cites two anonymous sources in the US government, the secret agreement provides for the creation of a station for the electronic interception of communications on the Caribbean island, about 200 kilometers from the coast of Florida, where important US military bases are located facilities.

The financial paper added that China, with which the US is in increasingly tough competition, will allocate “billions of dollars” to Cuba to build this base.

The American television network CNN also spoke of such an agreement, citing “sources close to the intelligence services” of the United States.

“The US has been informed of the existence of this plan in recent weeks,” according to the network, but “it is unclear whether China has already begun building the interception base.”

The White House said Thursday that the WSJ report is “inaccurate.”

“I saw the article. It’s not accurate,” the spokesman for the US president’s national security council, John Kirby, said on MSNBC.

“What I can tell you is that our administration has been concerned since day one about China’s activities to increase its influence around the world, particularly in our hemisphere,” Mr. Kerby said. “We are watching this very closely,” he added.

“Based on the information we have, this is not accurate. We have not been informed of any facilities in China and Cuba, of any type of espionage base,” Pentagon spokesman Wing Commander Pat Ryder said during a press conference, adding that Washington is “constantly” monitoring Beijing’s relations with of Havana.

“Deeply worried”

Still, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and his Republican colleague Marco Rubio, the heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said they were “deeply troubled” by the information published by the Wall Street Journal.

“The United States must respond to China’s continued brazen attacks against our national security,” the two senators argued.

Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly wants to expand China’s military presence internationally to rival that of the US, whose armed forces are present on all continents.

But the establishment of a base on Cuban soil, so close to Florida, would represent a new level for Beijing and would be perceived in Washington as an unprecedented threat.

“We must make it clear that China’s installation of a spy base 100 miles from Florida and the US would be unacceptable,” the senators insisted.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union had electronic espionage facilities in Cuba.

In 1962, the US observed missile launch pads. President John F. Kennedy decided to impose a naval blockade on the island, and for several days, the threat of open conflict – without ruling out the use of nuclear weapons – between the two superpowers had reached a fever pitch.

The USSR eventually decided not to install missiles in Cuba, and the US withdrew its own missiles from Turkey.

In January and February, a Chinese balloon that Washington claimed was a “spy” flew high above the US territory until it was shot down by a fighter jet, an episode that further escalated tensions between the US and China.