Florida Representative Carlos Gimenez expressed concern about China fostering “closer 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 “alarming” that immigrants from China had been able to enter Key Largo – an island in the upper Florida Keys – by boat, according to authorities.
“It really worries me that now they’re trying to come in through the Keys – my part of the country,” he told the Daily Mail in an interview published Sunday.
“I understand that the Chinese are gaining influence. The more infrastructure projects the more activity in our hemisphere, especially in Cuba.”
In June, reports revealed that Cuba had authorized China to build a surveillance facility on the island, located about 90 miles south of Florida.
The development follows an incident in which a high-altitude spy balloon from China floated over the US for about a week between late January and early February before being shot down off the coast of Carolina.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez said that the development is very worrying.Getty Images
There have allegedly been at least 100 surveillance snafus in recent years in which military bases were broken into by Chinese nationals, many of them posing as tourists, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
“We have seen many, many Chinese nationals, saying they are tourists and so on and they have taken photos of sensitive installations,” Gimenez added to the Daily Mail.
The congressman blamed the Biden administration for its border policy, which he called “blinding.”
“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,” Gimenez said in a statement following news of concerns in Key Largo last week.
Chinese Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong, met with Cuban Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas on May 20, 2023.AP
“In Congress, I have stood up to the Biden Administration’s short-sighted border policies that have harmed our country and impacted our South Florida communities.”
Last fiscal year, which ended earlier this month, the US experienced a record-breaking 3.2 million border apprehensions at the border, according to the US Border Patrol.
Gimenez emerged as a prominent Republican voice in the 22-day GOP speaker standoff that paralyzed the House of Representatives.
China appears to have fostered ties with Cuba amid rising tensions with the US.AP
He supported former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and voted for him repeatedly, before later falling in line and supporting 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.
The exact date when the meeting will take place has not been announced.
Biden and Xi last met in November 2022 on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
The Florida Republican emphasized concerns about immigrants entering US territory by sea.Twitter/@USBPchiefMIP
Xi last set foot on US soil in 2017 when he was invited to then-President Donald Trump’s lavish Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The Biden administration has made a series of diplomatic overtures to Beijing in an effort to help thaw frosty relations with the Asian powerhouse.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
