‘People Are Afraid’

Soon after being nominated as Argentina’s ambassador to China in late 2015, Mr. Guelar said, he steeled himself for an arduous task: pushing to renegotiate the space station agreement.

The former government, he said, had given away too much, recklessly failing to specify that the base could be used only for peaceful purposes.

“It was very serious,” he said. “At any moment it could become a military base.”

To his surprise, he said, the Chinese agreed to the use base solely for civilian purposes. But that did not assuage concerns in Bajada del Agrio, the closest town to the station, where residents speak of the Chinese presence with a mix of bewilderment and fear.

“People see it as a military base,” said Jara María Albertina, the manager at the local radio station. “People are afraid.”

The mayor, Ricardo Fabián Esparza, said the Chinese had been friendly and even invited him to look at the images the antenna produces. But he is more apprehensive than hopeful.

“From that telescope, they probably can even see what underwear you’re wearing,” he said.

The United States is the one that should be most concerned, he said. The base, he said, is an “eye looking toward that country.”