I should think so
If they want an base of their own on the other side of the world they should send a gunboat, kick the natives out and build it themselves - like civilised people.
Australia’s northern neighbour East Timor recently knocked back Chinese offers to build a free radar to monitor shipping, on the suspicion that Beijing actually wanted to build a spy base in the tiny nation. The allegation is contained in WikiLeaks cables which, for the moment at least, have been handed exclusively to Fairfax …
If they wanted to get a military radar system installed for nefarious purposes, they should have just claimed it was a ludicrously overspecified civilian system, attached an extortionate price tag and bribed local political and administrative figures to get the deal approved. After all, it worked for BAe in Tanzania.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bae-faces-fine-over-tanzanian-radar-contract-2165651.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jan/15/bae.armstrade
Today only! Free radar monitoring station to keep an eye on all your commercial shipping. It doesn't track military shipping at all. No, definitely not. All I ask of you is that my guys run it. But remember, it's FREE!!
Not suspicious at all. Nope, I see no issues with that at all.