Satellite images show the deployment of light attack jets at a new China-Laos joint training facility in Laos, marking Beijing’s first full-fledged overseas base in Southeast Asia and military expansion outside its territories.
Latest satellite images taken by Vantor show eight K-8 light attack jets and more than two dozen support vehicles on a runway still under construction at the Ban Keun airport in Laos.
The base at Ban Keun, about 30 miles (50km) outside the capital Vientiane, was opened on 29 September by the Chinese defence ministry as a joint “support and training centre”.
The planes appeared to be the Chinese-made Hongdu JL-8 jet, a two-seat intermediate jet trainer and light attack aircraft that can be deployed in combat to carry bombs, according to security analysts.
Laos currently has four of the planes, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the planes can be operated by both Chinese and Lao air forces.
Diplomats, analysts, and politicians in neighbouring countries are closely watching the development at the Chinese base in Laos for any sign of air defences, ammunition and fuel storage, and surveillance facilities, signs that would point to the base serving broader military functions beyond training.
China does not have a significant network of military bases in other countries, making the Laos airbase the most significant, as it would be the first facility capable of handling fighter jets in another country. The US controls about 750 bases in at least 80 countries worldwide.
China is believed to not have overseas military facilities beyond the South China Sea, port access in Ream, Cambodia, and a logistics base in Djibouti, despite more than 20 years of aggressive military modernisation.
The construction at the base was ongoing, according to Reuters, which revealed the satellite images, showing extensive construction work focused on a future runway extension. Once completed, it would make the air base capable of handling larger planes such as bombers.
The selection of Ban Keun for a military base that the People's Liberation Army could access "is likely more about a target of opportunity than filling an obvious operational need,” Rachel Vandenbrink, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said.
"Laos does have some geostrategic value as an accessible foothold in mainland Southeast Asia, given its shared border with China and infrastructure links, including (its) railway," Ms Vandenbrink said.
Singapore-based security analyst Alexander Neill said that the airfield looked relatively short and innocuous at present, it could in future serve larger aircraft, including signals intelligence and electronic-surveillance planes, to extend China's reach into Southeast Asia.
"It looks like the airfield has been engineered to accommodate a runway extension allowing larger aircraft to operate," said Mr Neill, an adjunct fellow at Hawaii's Pacific Forum think-tank.
Collin Koh, a scholar at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, described the Laotian planes as being of "questionable serviceability".
Chinese defence ministry said the facility “is not directed against any third party”.
“The construction and use of the centre reflect mutual respect and equal consultation between China and Laos,” it said.
Junwu Ciweimian, a Chinese military commentary account, said it was important for two reasons.
One is that Ban Keun lies along the China-Laos Railway corridor, which would make it easier to move personnel and equipment from China. The second is that it was a relatively flat area compared with much of mountainous Laos, which would make it better suited for an airfield and flight training.
Vietnam is likely to be most concerned with the development as it has long seen Indochina as its backyard.
US forces are believed to have used the Ban Keun airport in Laos, then known as "Lima Site 44" during covert military operations at the height of the Vietnam war in the 1960s and 1970s.
Its development will be closely monitored by Vietnam, which maintains disputes with China over the South China Sea, and Thailand.
Thailand, which also shares a border with Vietnam, played down the concerns, saying Bangkok considered itself a close partner of both Laos and China.
The defence minister said it was Vientiane’s sovereign right to decide whether to grant permission for a Chinese base.
“Nevertheless, Thailand will continue to closely monitor developments and how the matter proceeds, particularly with regard to building mutual trust,” said R Adm Surasant Kongsiri.
There are also reasons for worry for Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring the self-governing island under its control.
In the event of a conflict in the South China Sea or over Taiwan, the base could enable China to intercept US Air Force aircraft flying across Indochina from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, defence expert Su Tzu-yun of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defence and Security Research told the Taipei Times.
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