China’s New Overseas Military Base

The People’s Liberation Army quietly opened a new military facility in the nation of Laos last week, expanding China’s military presence in Southeast Asia and catching the United States off guard.

• China says the new Joint Flight Training and Support Center at Ban Keun Airport, 28 miles northwest of Vientiane, Laos’s capital city, will train Laotian military pilots and deepen cooperation between the two nations’ forces.
• Analysts expect the facility to function as far more than just a training center. Its nearly 1.2-mile runway can accommodate fighter aircraft and could be extended to handle bombers, transport planes and aerial-refueling tankers.

Encroaching on the U.S.: The base lies ominously close to Thailand, a U.S. treaty ally where American forces regularly train and operate military ships and aircraft.

• The development appears to have caught the U.S. off guard, as Laos was not among the nations the Pentagon listed in its December 2025 assessment as potential sites for future Chinese military centers.

Rising dragon: China already operates a military base in Djibouti in Africa and is expanding its military presence at Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base. The new facility in Laos gives Beijing another strategic foothold in Asia and another avenue for projecting military power beyond its borders—developments that take on added significance in light of the Bible’s prophecies about China’s future military role.