National security expert warns of China’s creeping influence off Florida coast

“It doesn’t take a lot of imagination,” suggested a national security expert, warning of China’s growing influence over one Caribbean country.

Whether considering the massive amounts of acreage acquired by Chinese Communist Party-linked investors, especially around U.S. military bases, or concerns over data-mining through apps like TikTok, there was no doubt that every action of China warranted increased scrutiny. So it was that, as the communist country invested billions into the Bahamas, a former Homeland Security adviser to President Donald Trump expounded on the risk posed to the United States.

“The People’s Republic of China has been making diplomatic, economic and even military and quasi-military inroads into the Caribbean, South and Central America for the past couple of decades,” retired Rear Adm. Peter Brown told Fox News Digital.

“It doesn’t take a lot of imagination for the People’s Republic of China to use its commercial footprint in the Bahamas to monitor, exploit and perhaps even do worse to [the] U.S.,” he said, having pointed out an increase in dual-use infrastructure projects on the island’s coast.

Brown also pointed out how the British Colonial Hotel, located across from the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, was controlled by Chinese company Chow Tai Fook Enterprises when he expressed, “It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to think that additional electronics were put in there with the purpose and the task of keeping an eye not only on the U.S. Embassy itself, but also the U.S. Embassy visitors.”

China has invested billions of dollars into the Bahamas included $3 billion in development financing for the Baha Mar Resort through China EXIM Bank, $3 billion for a port in Freeport, $54 million loaned toward highway construction — also through EXIM, a $40 million grant for a national stadium and $40 million for the Little Abaco Bridge and North Abaco Port.

“If we’re not the Bahamas’ best friend, somebody else will be — and we don’t want that somebody to be China,” cautioned the retired admiral who noted, “The U.S. Navy has an underwater testing facility, called Autech, that does very significant and sensitive submarine and anti-submarine warfare work. [And] the Bahamas are right in the flight path of many space launches.”

As was the case with busts in Coral Gables, Florida, intelligence wasn’t all that was at risk with China’s foothold in the Caribbean, as there had been an increase in Chinese nationals entering the U.S. illegally via the coast.

Earlier this year, Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R) had spoken to an 8,000% increase as he urged the Bahamas to “STOP this madness & evict Communist China from the islands!”

NEWS —> We’ve seen an 8,000% increase in the number of migrants from Communist China invading Florida ILLEGALLY from the Bahamas & the Caribbean.

My district in Miami & the Keys is directly impacted. The Bahamas must STOP this madness & evict Communist China from the islands! pic.twitter.com/fVONgmuViL

— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) February 6, 2025

Even earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had warned in 2019, as Florida senator, that Hurricane Dorian had devastatingly cleared a path for China to swoop in on a prime location under the pretense of aid.

“By targeting the Bahamian government in this period of crisis,” Rubio wrote in a Miami Herald op-ed, “Beijing would be making the same opportunistic play to access critical foreign infrastructure.”

“But in this case, the national security threat is especially perilous, as it would give China a foothold just 50 miles from the coast of Florida,” the then-senator went on.

Brown went on to assert to Fox News Digital, “The better relationship we have, the more secure we can be, because we can detect and deal with issues when they’re still kind of on the Bahamas side of the Straits of Florida.”

“From an economic standpoint, the huge gain for the Bahamas is that trade and tourism transportation with the United States. So, it’s in our mutual interest for us to have a good relationship with the Bahamians,” he added.

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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