BEIJING—Australian officials said on Wednesday that they didn't consult the U.S. on a plan to allow China to use a space-tracking station in Western Australia that is also used by NASA, despite widespread concerns that the Chinese space program is largely controlled by the Chinese military.

The admission comes as a potential embarrassment to Australian authorities as they host U.S. President Barack Obama on his first official visit there. Mr. Obama on Wednesday unveiled plans to boost the U.S. military presence in the country, in large part to hedge against China's escalating firepower. An Obama administration spokesman said late Wednesday that he was unaware of the ground-station issue.

U.S. officials and experts have long expressed concerns that China's space program has potential military applications, including enhancing its ability to target U.S. aircraft carriers, and other Navy ships, with a recently deployed antiship ballistic missile. While the site's owner and Australian authorities say there's no risk of China accessing U.S. operations there, some experts say that China could use it to better position spacecraft for military surveillance.

China's use of the tracking station in Dongara, in Western Australia, illustrates how Beijing is pressing ahead with international space cooperation, even as U.S. lawmakers escalate efforts to block almost all interaction between China and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

U.S. space officials, meanwhile, fear that China could overtake the U.S. as world leader in space if it continues to make rapid advances like the one this month, when the country completed its first space-docking mission—a milestone in its plan to build a space station by 2020.