China has begun operating a new air force base in Laos, marking another step in Beijing’s efforts to establish military footholds abroad and project power into Southeast Asia.
Satellite images released this week revealed that eight small military aircraft had arrived at the China-Laos Joint Logistics and Training Center, which officially opened late last month at Ban Keun, about 30 miles north of the Laotian capital, Vientiane.
The satellite images, first reported by Reuters, showed a 1.2-mile runway at Ban Keun that could be extended, opening the possibility that the facility could host bigger aircraft that need longer takeoffs and landings.
The base in Laos, a landlocked country between Vietnam and Thailand, could help the Chinese air force reach across the region, including countries with which Beijing has long-running territorial tensions over the South China Sea, some experts said.
China has the world’s second biggest military after the United States. The People’s Liberation Army has been expanding rapidly but has taken limited only steps to open bases in other countries: a naval facility in Cambodia and another naval support center in Djibouti, in East Africa.
“Ban Keun is significant because it appears to be China’s first openly acknowledged overseas military facility for air power,” said Ying Yu Lin, an associate professor at Tamkang University in Taipei who studies China’s military. The new facility “sits in the center of the Indochinese peninsula, and could enable the Chinese Communist Party to easily project air power across surrounding areas.”
But for now at least, the Chinese air force presence at Ban Keun is too small and isolated to have tangible military consequences, said Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon official.
“Laos is landlocked, so a base there doesn’t give the Lao or Chinese air force unfettered access to the Indian Ocean or Gulf of Thailand,” said Mr. Thompson, who is now a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “The threat of a joint Lao-China air force base is primarily political rather than military because it was established without consultation” with Laos’ neighbors.
The eight aircraft at Ban Keun were possibly K-8 jets, also called Hongdu JL-8, a light two-seater built by China and Pakistan that is mostly used for training, said Professor Lin. Laos’ air force has only a few dozen aircraft, including about four of the K-8 jets, according to an annual global military survey from the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Nearby countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore will likely watch to see if Ban Keun’s runway is lengthened to host bombers or surveillance aircraft. Many Chinese fighter jets and other aircraft can take off from runways shorter than the one at Ban Keun, but standard Chinese air force runways are often notably longer.
Countries in Southeast Asia generally try to stay friendly with Beijing, while many also look to the United States to counterbalance Chinese power. Singapore and Thailand, in particular, provide logistic support for U.S. forces in the region, said Professor Lin. Vietnam, which has had acrimonious boundary disputes with China, has also turned to the United States.
Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for Thailand’s Ministry of Defense, said Laos had the right to decide whether to allow China to operate a base there, Reuters reported. “Nevertheless, Thailand will continue to closely monitor developments,” he said.
Ban Keun has been used by a foreign military before. During the Vietnam War, an airfield there served as a forward base for covert American support operations that were carried out under the name Air America.
Construction on the new base began around October 2025 and proceeded swiftly, satellite images show. By May, much of the runway was visible.
In late September, Laotian and Chinese military officers assembled for the formal opening of the support and training center, a Chinese television report showed. China’s Ministry of National Defense said that Ban Keun was “not aimed at any third party.”
The center will be “jointly maintained by both sides” and “its construction and operation are the fruit of mutual respect and consultation on an equal basis between China and Laos,” the ministry said.
In recent decades, Laos has increasingly depended on China for investment, political support and tourism.
In January, the International Monetary Fund warned that Laos, one of Asia’s poorest and least developed nations, has a debt burden that is “unsustainable.” About half of Laos’ public debt is owed to China, which has financed a high-speed railway that largely bypasses the local population. Laos has also poured money into hydropower, and a Chinese joint venture now runs its power grid.
China’s first major military foothold in Southeast Asia was at a naval base in Ream, Cambodia, which it helped expand into a deepwater base. Cambodia has lately tried to reduce its reliance on China by courting Washington, both by lauding President Donald Trump and welcoming a visit in January by an American warship.
Hannah Beech in Bangkok and Amy Chang Chien in Taipei contributed reporting.
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