U.S. Concerned China’s Hurricane Relief For Bahamas Will Be Used To Gain Influence Off Florida Coast

By  //  September 6, 2019

concerns about intelligence capabilities, intelligence gathering capabilities

ABOVE VIDEO: New images show scale of Hurricane Dorian’s destruction in Bahamas. (Fox News Video)

(FOX NEWS) – Hurricane Dorian’s devastation of the Bahamas reportedly has U.S. officials worried China may use the tragedy as a back door to get a foothold in the Caribbean nation, with the Communist country using international aid efforts as a Trojan horse to establish a base of influence just 50 miles from the Florida coast.

Current and former U.S. officials, some speaking anonymously to the media, said this week that the Trump administration currently is focused on helping Bahamians who are struggling in the immediate aftermath of the storm, which struck the islands as a Category 5 and, according to some estimates, caused as much as $7 billion in damage.

But in the months and years ahead, officials say, the U.S. must also pay close attention if China emerges as a key player in the recovery effort.

“There are certainly concerns about the Chinese having full access to the region,” Fernando Cutz, a former senior director in the Trump administration’s National Security Council, told NPR. “You could imagine a situation where they would develop intelligence capabilities, intelligence gathering capabilities.”

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