Airport training site in Laos extends China’s clout in Southeast Asia

NEW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan — China’s design to use a Laotian airport for joint military training has put much of Southeast Asia on guard about how far the People’s Liberation Army will extend its reach.

The China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center at Ban Keun Airport some 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Lao capital Vientiane and the China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy kicked off in September, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said on its website.

China’s role at the military airport, which had just finished major upgrades and features a 2,000-meter runway, suggests that the People’s Liberation Army intends to springboard into other parts of Southeast Asia – a land-border neighbor where several countries have territorial differences with China – experts say.

“As China in reality aspires to be a major power, it has to gradually and in a low-key manner build up military bases, albeit for training or other seemingly innocuous purposes,” said Oh Ei Sun, principal adviser at the Pacific Research Center think tank in Kuala Lumpur.

“Laos has long been considered to be a close ally for (China) in Southeast Asia and it is of course no surprise that China’s first base in Southeast Asia is located there,” he added.

The two countries share a border, a Communist Party leadership and a recent history of economic cooperation led by large Chinese infrastructure projects such as a railway line.

The defense ministry in Beijing said the training center, to be jointly maintained and operated, is aimed at helping Laos strengthen the training of its air force pilots.

Ban Keun will allow a “continuous” Chinese presence and primarily be used to “steer procurement to Chinese equipment” and support PLA air operations, the China Global South Project media platform says in a study.

The ministry website says China’s role at the airport is “not directed against any third party”, contributing instead to improving “practical military cooperation.”

But instead, China may be increasing its military foothold “deep inside mainland Southeast Asia” after earlier establishing a naval presence at Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, a political scientist at Fulbright University in Vietnam. Mainland Southeast Asia includes Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand as well as Laos and Cambodia.

Chinese operational military presence and privileged access at the Cambodian base grew from 2019 through 2025, Asian mainstream media reports have said.

China is keen on Laos now “because the Chinese feel it’s time to complement the naval facility in Cambodia with nearby air power capability,” said Denny Roy, a ­senior fellow at the East-West Centre think tank in Hawaii.

Using both its navy and air force, Beijing has shored up its South China Sea claims over the past two decades by building artificial islands, often for military use. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam dispute parts of the sea with China.

Sporadic China-Vietnam incidents have occurred in the waters since the 1970s. China and the Philippines are jousting for control over tiny islets west of Luzon and Palawan islands.

“Vietnam is probably the most sensitive, as Laos has long been its strategic buffer, and for now the foothold looks more like China asserting leverage over Hanoi and Phnom Penh,” said Hangyu Lee, East Asia Pacific analyst at the nonprofit organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. He said Ban Keun and Ream “together could look like a wider Chinese security network.”

Myanmar, Lee added, could be “indirectly affected” if the airport improves China’s ability to monitor activity across continental Southeast Asia. Myanmar, with its own Chinese border, has been in civil war since 2021.

China’s presence at the Laotian airport has been linked to its first confirmed overseas base, in the East African country Djibouti. The People’s Liberation Army uses it as a support base. The African base and now Ban Keun mark China’s gradual, low-key buildup of bases, Oh said.

But the Laotian site “represents a new air-centered model” distinct from Djibouti and Ream in Cambodia, the China Global South Project study says.

“Eventually it can be a pre-positioned base for PRC aircraft as needed ,” Roy said. “It could also be expanded to accommodate more and larger aircraft.”

台湾新台北市——中国计划利用老挝机场进行联合军事训练，这让东南亚大部分地区对中国人民解放军的影响力究竟会扩展到多远感到担忧。

中国国防部在其网站上表示，位于老挝首都万象以北约 50 公里（31 英里）的班肯机场的中老联合支援训练中心和中老友谊航空学院已于 9 月正式启用。

专家表示，中国在刚刚完成重大升级并拥有2000米跑道的军用机场扮演的角色表明，中国人民解放军打算以此为跳板进军东南亚其他地区——东南亚是中国的陆地邻国，而该地区的几个国家与中国存在领土争端。

“中国实际上渴望成为一个大国，因此必须逐步、低调地建立军事基地，尽管是为了训练或其他看似无害的目的，”吉隆坡太平洋研究中心智库首席顾问吴逸孙表示。

“老挝长期以来一直被认为是（中国）在东南亚的亲密盟友，因此中国在东南亚的第一个基地设在那里也就不足为奇了，”他补充道。

两国接壤，由共产党领导，并且近年来在经济合作方面有着密切的联系，中国在两国实施了大型基础设施项目，例如修建铁路。

北京国防部表示，该训练中心将由中老两国共同维护和运营，旨在帮助老挝加强空军飞行员的训练。

据中国全球南方项目媒体平台在一份研究中称，班根空军基地将允许中国“持续”存在，并将主要用于“引导采购中国装备”和支持解放军空中行动。

该部网站称，中国在机场扮演的角色“并非针对任何第三方”，而是有助于改善“务实的军事合作”。

但越南富布赖特大学政治学家阮清忠表示，中国可能正在加强其在“东南亚大陆腹地”的军事存在，此前中国已在柬埔寨云壤海军基地建立了海军力量。东南亚大陆包括越南、马来西亚、缅甸、泰国以及老挝和柬埔寨。

亚洲主流媒体报道称，从 2019 年到 2025 年，中国在柬埔寨基地的军事存在和特权日益增强。

夏威夷东西方中心智库高级研究员丹尼·罗伊表示，中国现在对老挝很感兴趣，“因为中国人认为现在是时候用附近的空中力量来补充柬埔寨的海军设施了”。

过去二十年来，北京利用其海军和空军力量，通过建造人工岛（通常用于军事用途）来巩固其在南海的主权声索。文莱、马来西亚、菲律宾和越南与中国在南海部分海域存在主权争议。

自上世纪70年代以来，中越两国在该海域不时发生冲突。中国和菲律宾正在争夺吕宋岛和巴拉望岛以西一些小岛的控制权。

“越南可能是最敏感的地区，因为老挝长期以来一直是中国的战略缓冲地带，而目前来看，中国在越南的立足点更像是对河内和金边施加影响力，”非营利组织“武装冲突地点与事件数据项目”（ACLED）东亚太平洋分析师李航宇（Hangyu Lee）表示。他指出，潘根和里姆“加起来可能构成一个更广泛的中国安全网络”。

李补充说，如果该机场提升了中国监控东南亚大陆活动的能力，缅甸可能会受到“间接影响”。缅甸与中国接壤，自2021年以来一直处于内战状态。

中国在老挝机场的存在与其在东非国家吉布提的首个已确认的海外基地有关。中国人民解放军将其用作后勤保障基地。吴先生表示，非洲基地以及现在的班根基地标志着中国正在逐步、低调地扩建其海外基地。

但中国全球南方项目研究指出，老挝的这个地点“代表了一种以空中为中心的新模式”，与吉布提和柬埔寨的里姆截然不同。

罗伊说：“最终，它可以根据需要成为中国飞机的预先部署基地。它还可以扩建，以容纳更多更大的飞机。”