Small base, long shadow: China’s new military outpost in Laos
The Chinese military footprint grows in mainland South-east Asia even as it expands in the South China Sea
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A satellite image showing what security analysts believe are Y-8 light attack fighters and support vehicles at a new China-Laos joint training facility in Ban Keun on Sept 30.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ian Storey
China’s announcement late in September that it had opened a joint military facility with Laos at Ban Keun air base came as a bolt from the blue.
The facility, officially known as the Joint Support and Training Centre and the China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy, was built on an airstrip once used by America’s CIA during the Vietnam War. Remarkably, Chinese firms built the new air base in just under 11 months and without attracting much attention.