Florida Rep. Carlos Giménez is sounding alarms about China cultivating “greater ties” with Cuba after 17 Chinese nationals were recently detained in his district.
The Republican, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee, said it was “troubling” that migrants from China were able to enter Key Largo, an island in the Upper Florida Keys, by boat, according to authorities. .
“It really worries me that they are now trying to make their way through the Keys, my part of the country,” he told the Daily Mail in an interview published on Sunday.
“I understand that the Chinese are having more and more influence. “There are more and more infrastructure projects and more activity in our hemisphere, especially in Cuba.”
In June, reports revealed that Cuba had given China authority to build a surveillance facility on the island, located about 90 miles south of Florida.
That development followed an incident in which a high-altitude spy balloon from China floated across the United States for about a week in late January and early February before being shot down off the Carolina coast.
Rep. Carlos Giménez said the development was deeply concerning. Getty Images
There have allegedly been at least 100 surveillance issues in recent years in which Chinese nationals broke into military bases, many of whom presented themselves as tourists, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
“We have seen many, many Chinese citizens saying that they are tourists and stuff and they have been photographing sensitive facilities,” Giménez added to the Daily Mail.
The congressman blamed the Biden administration for its border policies, which he called “mind-blowing.”
“I am proud to serve on the Armed Services Committee, the Homeland Security Committee and the new Select Committee on China and have requested additional information from all federal agencies involved,” Giménez said in a statement following news of the arrests in Cayo Long. last week.
Chinese Minister of Public Security, Wang Xiaohong, meets with Cuban Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, on May 20, 2023.AP
“In Congress, I have fought against the Biden administration’s shortsighted border policies that have endangered our country and impacted our South Florida community.”
Last fiscal year, which ended earlier this month, the United States experienced a record 3.2 million border apprehensions, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Giménez emerged as a prominent Republican voice in the 22-day fight for the GOP presidency that left the House of Representatives paralyzed.
China has apparently been fostering ties with Cuba amid rising tensions with the United States.AP
He endorsed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and voted for him repeatedly, before falling in line and endorsing now-Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco next month, an official told the Associated Press.
An exact date for when the meeting will take place has not been announced.
Biden and Xi last met in November 2022, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
The Florida Republican highlighted his concern about the arrival of migrants to US territory by sea. Twitter/@USBPChiefMIP
Xi last set foot on American soil in 2017, when he was invited to then-President Donald Trump’s luxurious Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The Biden administration has made a series of diplomatic overtures to Beijing in a bid to help thaw frosty relations with the Asian superpower.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn