It’s just a sentence in ISW’s latest China & Taiwan Update, which includes two topline items (October 2, 2026).
The first item is about how the People’s Liberation Army has just opened its third overseas military base, a joint base, in Ban Keun, Laos: the China-Laos Military Joint Support and Training Center. The second item is about how the PRC “may be surveying undersea communication cables near the Philippines’ Batanes Islands. The PRC may seek to reduce the islands’ utility to US and allied forces in a Taiwan contingency by cutting undersea cables and eroding Philippine sovereignty.”
These two somewhat distinct reports are related by what the Institute for the Study of War suggests is one purpose of the new base.
This base constitutes the first PLA overseas military facility focused on air power, preceded by naval-focused PLA facilities in Djibouti and Cambodia. The Laotian base contains runways as long as 6,562 feet, allowing it to be used for PLA Air Force flights. The base is located approximately 40 miles north of Laos’ capital, Vientiane, and close to the Laos-Thailand border. The PRC Ministry of National Defense stated that the base would be used to train Lao air force pilots and further PRC-Laos military cooperation.
The PRC may be seeking to strengthen its historical alliances in Southeast Asia through new forms of military cooperation, following a June 5 agreement to enhance defense cooperation with Laos….
Though the joint base is not yet well equipped enough to support “major combat operations,” it can support such regional activity as air exercises with Thailand. And the base “would give the PLA alternate routes to access disputed areas of the South China Sea….” This is the sentence which implies that Laos, by allowing and cooperating on this base, is enhancing the PRC’s ability to harass the Philippines, specifically its fishermen and coast guard crews.
The “disputed areas” in the South China Sea are the Spratly Islands, including Second Thomas Shoal; Scarborough Shoal; etc. Other countries, like Vietnam, the Republic of China and Malaysia also lay claim to various of these islands or features. The big difference is that, unlike the PRC ships, the ships of these other countries are not continually seeking to erode Philippine sovereignty by tailgating, cutting off, ramming, water-hosing, lasering and otherwise attacking Philippine vessels and crews that sally forth in waters near the Philippines.
China’s Ministry of National Defense would disagree with this post. The MND says that the new base is “not directed against any third party” and is designed to “contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the region.”
Also see:
PhilStar Global: “PCG: Chinese ship faked location near Batanes cable corridor”
“The Philippine Coast Guard has accused a Chinese ship of deliberately broadcasting a false location to hide its movements in the waters off Batanes. The Chinese ship, Jia Hai Ke 7, had been holding its position in waters crossed by undersea cables, which the PCG said was consistent with an unauthorized seabed survey….
“This comes days after Chinese navy and coast guard ships interfered with a Philippine resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal on September 24.”
