China Opens Military Base in Laos

China has opened a new military training and logistics facility in Laos, extending its security presence deeper into mainland Southeast Asia. The China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center at Ban Keun Airport, north of the capital Vientiane, formally began operations late last month.

The facility will primarily help train Lao air force pilots and will be jointly maintained and operated by the two countries, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry. The center is part of a broader effort by China to expand its military cooperation with Laos, which has become heavily dependent on Chinese investment and financing.

The base has a roughly two-kilometre runway capable of handling fighter aircraft and could be extended to three kilometres for bombers, transport planes and aerial refuelling tankers. China's Ministry of Defense has not disclosed what personnel or aircraft will be based there.

Hunter Marston, director of the Southeast Asia Program at Australia's Lowy Institute, said the facility's infrastructure gives Beijing the option of expanding its military use in the future. The focus may well be on joint training, but it has the potential to become a more permanent base.

Laos has become heavily dependent on Chinese investment and financing during the past two decades, with the International Monetary Fund estimating Laos' public debt at around 81% of GDP last year. China is by far the largest bilateral creditor.

The development appears to have caught Washington off guard, as Laos was not among the countries the Pentagon had identified as possible locations where China was considering future military facilities.

Russia has also been involved in military cooperation with Laos, having acquired T-34-85 tanks from the country in exchange for T-72s and Yak-130s. China will now train Lao pilots to fly the Russian-made Yak-130s.