The China-Laos Joint Aviation Training Center is now operational. Scholars regard it as China’s first complete overseas base in Southeast Asia.

The Chinese Ministry of National Defense announced on Tuesday (September 29) that the China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center at Bangen Airport and the China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy were officially put into operation. The facility is located approximately 50 kilometers north of Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

China stated that the facility is used to help Laos strengthen the training of air force pilots and is jointly maintained by both parties. "Its construction and use are the result of mutual respect and equal consultation between China and Laos." China particularly emphasized that the facility "complies with relevant international laws and international practices and does not target any third party."

The Reuters report pointed out that some records show that the area was used by the United States during the United States' involvement in wars in Laos and neighboring Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1960s and 1970s. But commercial satellite images reviewed by Reuters show that the scale of the new construction is far greater than the simple earthen runways previously seen.

Satellite images show that construction of the new airport will begin later in 2025 and was still ongoing as of early September this year. The original green space has been replaced by a large paved runway, a parallel taxiway, aprons and several new buildings.

Scholar: It may be regarded as China’s first complete overseas base in Southeast Asia

The Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to inquiries from Reuters, and the Chinese statement did not provide details about personnel, equipment or facilities that would be stationed at the airport.

China opened its first formal overseas military logistics base in Djibouti in 2017, and will open a China-Cambodia joint support training center at Ream Naval Base in Cambodia in 2025. However, Cambodia stated that there are no Chinese personnel or Chinese warships permanently stationed at the Ream base.

Collin Koh, a security scholar at the S. S. Rajaratnam Institute of International Studies in Singapore, said on the social media platform

China and Laos have close relations

Laos is a one-party country governed by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and has a long and complicated history with its fellow communist neighbors China and Vietnam.

The Reuters report pointed out that the poor Laos Air Force is small and equipped with a small number of aircraft designed by China and Russia. A diplomat from a Southeast Asian country who asked not to be named said that the Lao military used to travel to Vietnam, Russia and China for training, but now some personnel can receive training at home.

China has been expanding its military presence in the region, the diplomat added, citing the example of China setting up a joint ammunition factory in Indonesia as evidence.

Laos has conducted several joint military exercises with China, including one this month aimed at responding to humanitarian crises.

In June this year, Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith visited Beijing and met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping said at the time that "over the past 10 years, China and Laos have continued to make important progress in building a community with a shared future" and expressed that he would "give new connotation to the relationship between the two parties and the two countries."

The United States itself has a huge network of overseas military bases, but has always been skeptical of these moves by China. The Reuters report pointed out that an annual report released by the Pentagon last year listed 22 countries where Beijing planned to establish military facilities, but Laos was not among them.

Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, spokesman for the Thai Ministry of Defense, said that as a treaty ally of the United States and bordering Laos, Thailand regards itself as a close partner of Laos and China. He said Thailand believed it was Laos's sovereign right to decide whether to allow China to establish a base. "Nonetheless, Thailand will continue to pay close attention to developments and subsequent developments, especially in terms of building mutual trust," he added.

Military attachés and analysts in the region have long noted that China currently lacks an adequate network of overseas military bases, given its military's ongoing modernization drive and Beijing's belief that it needs greater long-range power projection capabilities to compete with the United States.

China is also actively expanding its military presence in the disputed South China Sea.

China opened its base in Djibouti in 2017 and has gradually expanded its military presence in the region with its powerful ship docking and surveillance capabilities. The Pentagon previously estimated that about 400 Marines are stationed at the base. However, despite its size, the facility is surrounded by military bases from other countries, including Japan and the United States.

In addition to Djibouti and Cambodia, China has also built three island bases on three islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands where sovereignty is disputed. These bases are equipped with 3-kilometer-long runways for military aircraft to take off and land. These facilities have been under construction since 2014 and now have infrastructure such as docks, large-scale surveillance and air defense facilities, and personnel accommodation areas.

Military attachés pointed out that these bases enable China to further expand the deployment scope of its navy, coast guard and maritime militia forces into Southeast Asian waters.