(Central News Agency, Taipei, 3rd) China recently opened a military support and training center built at an airport in Laos. Analysts believe that this shows that China is expanding its overseas military presence.
Beijing has long sought to increase its influence in the Asia-Pacific region, including competing with the United States and its allies in areas such as critical shipping lanes and the exploration of undersea resources in the controversial South China Sea. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense recently announced the launch of a new joint military support and training center at Ban Keun Airport in Laos to assist the Lao Air Force in training pilots. It will be jointly maintained and operated by both parties.
Agence France-Presse quoted Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), as saying that the China-Laos Joint Military Support and Training Center, which was officially launched on September 29, is "China's first overseas air force base." Prior to this, China's overseas military facilities were mainly naval bases.
Granczyk believes that as China begins to try to establish air force bases abroad, China may establish more similar bases in surrounding areas and other friendly countries in the future. "It will not stop after building a base in Laos."
Collin Koh, a maritime security expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Relations at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, also pointed out that China, as Laos’ largest creditor, is trying to demonstrate its extended capabilities in defense diplomacy.
Xu Ruilin pointed out that training Lao pilots requires China to deploy military assets locally, whether they are ordinary transport aircraft or modern fighter jets. "Once training begins, (China's) military power will naturally exist."
According to a previous statement from the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, the China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy, which has a training center and supporting facilities, aims to train Lao Air Force pilots. These facilities will be "jointly maintained and carried out normal business operations by both parties" and will not be directed against any third party.
Neither government has released details about the personnel or military equipment that will be deployed at the facilities.
The report quoted data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) military expenditure database, which showed that China’s military expenditure is only about one-third of that of the United States, and the number of overseas military bases is even less.
China’s first overseas military base was opened in 2017 in Djibouti, an East African country close to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In addition, China has also invested in upgrading Cambodia’s Ream naval base in the Gulf of Thailand, and will send military representatives to co-chair the inauguration ceremony of this joint support and training center with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet in 2025.
After the renovation of the Yunyang base, American and Japanese warships also visited the port, and two Chinese anti-submarine frigates had been anchored here for a long time.
In contrast, Xu Ruilin believes that the new facilities in Laos are likely to be used only by the Lao and Chinese armies. Binkun Airport may become a "convenient transit point" for the Chinese Air Force, and Chinese personnel may also be permanently stationed here.
He bluntly said, "We cannot rule out the possibility that China will deploy combat equipment in the region in the name of training the Lao Air Force."
Carl Thayer, emeritus professor of political science at the University of New South Wales in Australia and an expert on Asian military issues, believes that there is no need to panic too much. Binkun Airport can currently only support light aircraft and training aircraft. "China is indeed moving forward, but this is not yet a crisis. It is not like Djibouti or Yunliang, but it represents a change."
