"A new batch of WikiLeaks cables has revealed that China tried to set up a surveillance radar base in East Timor."
According to US embassy cables leaked to WikiLeaks, China approached East Timor in December 2007, hoping to establish a surveillance radar facility on the country's north coast.
However, East Timorese officials viewed the proposal with concern and entered into talks with the United States and Australia before rejecting the plan, Fairfax reports.
China had proposed to build and operate the facility free of charge, to help East Timor in its fight against illegal fishing.
The leaked US cables show that East Timor's deputy prime minister, Jose Luis Guterres, was concerned the radar would be used to extend China's intelligence capabilities further into south-east Asia.
"The only catch was that the facilities were manned by Chinese technicians," Mr Guterres reportedly told the US embassy.
US diplomats in the East Timor's capital Dili reported that Mr Guterres, President Jose Ramos Horta and the Secretary of State for Defence, Julio Pinto, had stated they had a "strong preference" for working with Australia, Portugal, the US and Japan on defence and security.
The Wetar Strait, separating East Timor's north-east coast from Indonesia's Pulau Wetar Island, is reportedly used by US navy vessels moving between the Pacific and Indian oceans."
China's E Timor surveillance scheme leaked : World News Australia on SBS
According to US embassy cables leaked to WikiLeaks, China approached East Timor in December 2007, hoping to establish a surveillance radar facility on the country's north coast.
However, East Timorese officials viewed the proposal with concern and entered into talks with the United States and Australia before rejecting the plan, Fairfax reports.
China had proposed to build and operate the facility free of charge, to help East Timor in its fight against illegal fishing.
The leaked US cables show that East Timor's deputy prime minister, Jose Luis Guterres, was concerned the radar would be used to extend China's intelligence capabilities further into south-east Asia.
"The only catch was that the facilities were manned by Chinese technicians," Mr Guterres reportedly told the US embassy.
US diplomats in the East Timor's capital Dili reported that Mr Guterres, President Jose Ramos Horta and the Secretary of State for Defence, Julio Pinto, had stated they had a "strong preference" for working with Australia, Portugal, the US and Japan on defence and security.
The Wetar Strait, separating East Timor's north-east coast from Indonesia's Pulau Wetar Island, is reportedly used by US navy vessels moving between the Pacific and Indian oceans."
China's E Timor surveillance scheme leaked : World News Australia on SBS
