Technically, perhaps. We have a permanent base in Cuba, Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, and pay the Cuban government an annual lease. Since the Cuban revolution, the Castro government has not accepted the payments although the US still makes them. They say we are occupying it illegally. Is it legal or not?
Occupancy has its own legality, if you have the muscle ot keep it.
I’m sure glad my tenants don’t feel that way.
But it was clearly stipulated, that the lease terminated in 1997, the Chinese had no obligation to renew it.