The planes’ shape matches that of the Chinese-made Hongdu JL-8 jet, a two-seat trainer that can be deployed in combat to carry bombs. Laos is reported to have four such aircraft, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. In a rare example of Beijing’s overseas military expansion, China opened what it said was a joint “support and training centre” at Ban Keun on 29 September.
The airport, about 50km (30 miles) north of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, has been significantly expanded over the past year. Satellite images taken just months ago show farmland and dirt paths where there are now new buildings and a paved runway. Aside from its island bases in the South China Sea, Beijing does not have a significant network of military outposts in other countries and the Laos airbase would be its first facility in another country capable of handling fighter jets.
The satellite images, taken a day after the announcement and first reported by , show extensive construction work that appears to be focused on a future runway extension, which could make the airport capable of handling larger planes such as bombers. In its September announcement, China’s defence ministry said the new centre would “help Laos strengthen the training of its air force pilots” and was not “directed against any third party”. Governments will be watching closely for signs of deployments or the installation of defence equipment that may serve wider military ambitions.
After the announcement, the Singapore-based security analyst Collin Koh said it “may not be wrong to conclude this is the first full-fledged PLA [People’s Liberation Army] overseas base in south-east Asia”. Over the past two decades, China has built up an extensive network of outposts on islands in the disputed South China Sea, including airbases with air defence installations. Otherwise, its navy’s sole overseas military base is a logistics base in Djibouti, on the coast of the Horn of Africa.
The Laos agreement follows a similar programme established in Cambodia, at the Ream naval base on the Gulf of Thailand, although that facility has no runway. After years of speculation and denials, China announced in April last year that it had created the “joint logistics and training” facility in Cambodia. It said the centre would support the two militaries in “conducting regional counter-terrorism, disaster prevention and mitigation, humanitarian assistance, joint training and other operations”.
US forces are believed to have used Ban Keun airport in Laos during covert military operations at the height of the Vietnam war in the 1960s and 1970s. Its development will be monitored by Vietnam, which maintains disputes with China over the South China Sea, and Thailand, which shares a border with Laos. After the announcement last week, Thailand’s defence ministry spokesperson said Bangkok considered itself a close partner of both Laos and China and saw it as Vientiane’s sovereign right to decide whether to grant permission for a Chinese base.
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