Inside the FOUR Chinese spy stations sitting in scenic tourist hotspot just 100 miles from the Florida coast

Startling images have revealed four suspected Chinese spy stations in Cuba as Beijing moves in on America's doorstep.

The 'electronic eavesdropping' facilities, located just 100 miles off the coast of Florida, could allow China to scoop up a 'treasure trove of data' from U.S. military bases, space launches and commercial shipping, according to a report by think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

They could also bolster Beijing's ability to spy on American citizens.

Detailed layouts of three surveillance sites around Havana and one in the south-east of the country, just 70 miles from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, have been exposed by satellite imagery captured by the CSIS.

It comes a year after White House officials warned that China has been secretly operating a spy base on the Caribbean island amid negotiations between the two communist countries to build a joint military training facility.

Satellite images have revealed four suspected Chinese spy stations in Cuba, including three in the capital of Havana (pictured)

Nestled in the hills overlooking Havana, a surveillance complex in Bejucal is thought to be the largest Chinese spy station in Cuba, according to a Washington D.C. based think tank 

Satellite images have revealed detailed layouts of three surveillance sites around Havana and one in the south east of Cuba, just 70 miles from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay

Havana is seen as an ideal location for China to keep watch over U.S. military operations, as America's southeastern seaboard brims with bases, command headquarters, space launch centers, and military testing sites.

'Collecting data on activities like military exercises, missile tests, rocket launches, and submarine maneuvers would allow China to develop a more sophisticated picture of U.S. military practice,' the CSIS said.

Its analysis of satellite images found that two of the suspected Chinese spy stations near the Cuban capital - in Bejucal and Calabazar - host large dish antennas that appear designed to monitor and communicate with satellites.

Nestled in the hills overlooking Havana, the complex at Bejucal is thought to be the largest active surveillance site in Cuba.

The facility gained notoriety during the Cold War for housing Soviet nuclear weapons during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and has been linked to Chinese intelligence activity for decades.

It even featured in the 2016 U.S. presidential primary debates, when Florida senator Marco Rubio called on Havana to '[kick] out this Chinese listening station in Bejucal'.

Now, satellite imagery reveals the site has undergone major updates over the past decade, including the addition of a radome to 'hide its specifications from unwanted eyes', the CSIS said.

Less than 10 kilometers north of Bejucal lies a smaller facility known as Wajay, where security fencing and guard posts 'strongly suggests' that it is intended for military or other sensitive activities, according to the CSIS.

The compound has gradually expanded over the past 20 years, growing from just one antenna and several small buildings in 2002 to a robust complex today.

'Unsubstantiated rumors' suggest that China played a role in either the site's construction or modernization, the CSIS said.

Close by, a small military complex in Calabazar hosts more than a dozen dish antennas.

The 'electronic eavesdropping sites', such as this one in Calabazar, near Havana, could allow China to scoop up a 'treasure trove of data' from U.S. military bases

Less than 10 kilometers north of Bejucal lies a smaller facility known as Wajay, where security fencing and guard posts 'strongly suggests' that it is intended for military activities

Analysis of satellite imagery by the Center for Strategic and International Studies uncovered this new 'spy station' on the south east side of Cuba that would provide China with a strategic vantage point near Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, a key U.S. military base in the region

Beijing is thought to have four electronic eavesdropping facilities on Cuba, just 100 miles from the coast of Florida, that will be able to gather US military secrets. Pictured: A police officer stands guard across the street from the US embassy in Havana on May 26, 2023

Chinese air force personnel are seen marching in a file photo. The US officials said plans for the training facility in Cuba were revealed in highly classified new US intelligence

On the opposite side of the island, satellite images uncovered a new 'spy station' near the neighborhood of El Salao that would provide China with a highly strategic vantage point near Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, a key U.S. military base in the region.

The structure, whose construction began in 2021, appears to be a large circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA) with a projected diameter of 130 to 200 meters, the CSIS found.

The think tank added that, once operational, the facility 'will serve as a powerful tool for enhancing air and maritime domain awareness in the region, where the U.S. military and its international partners operate regularly'.

Some CDAAs of this approximate size are reportedly able to track signals anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 nautical miles away.

Sites like these were a staple during the Cold War.

Russia and the U.S. have since moved onto new technologies, but China has continued building CDAAs, including on its militarized outposts in the South China Sea.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union operated its largest overseas site for electronic spying, known as signals intelligence, at Lourdes, just outside Havana.

China has played an increased role on the island in recent years, with the U.S. intelligence community confirming in its annual threat assessment released in February that Beijing is pursuing military facilities in Cuba.

Beijing is considered by Washington to be its most significant rival when it comes to both its military and its economy, and a Chinese base with military and spying capabilities so close to the United States would pose an unprecedented threat. Left: Chinese president Xi Jinping. Right: President Joe Biden

From tens of billions of dollars in funding for key infrastructure projects across the region to its own secretive, military-run space station in Argentina that could target American satellites, China's presence in Latin American and the Caribbean has grown huge

China, Washington's top geopolitical rival, has previously denied the claims it is using Cuba as a spy base.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China's embassy in Washington, told The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. was 'the leading power in terms of eavesdropping' and 'repeatedly hyped up China's establishment of spy bases or conducting surveillance activities in Cuba'.

It comes amid growing concerns over Beijing's operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Cuban embassy, The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has been approached for comment.

Chinese state banks have loaned $136 billion to Latin American countries since 2005 with terms US officials have dubbed a 'spiraling trap'.

The communist country is also building a megaport on Peru's Pacific coast.