Pangkalan baharu China di Laos bukan ancaman buat Malaysia, kata penganalisis

Satellite imagery reveals a new Chinese military base under construction at Ban Keun airport in Laos. Analysts say it is too early to view it as a threat without further information from Vientiane. Malaysia should avoid seeing the Chinese military facility in Laos as a threat until it understands how Beijing intends to use it, says a senior external affairs analyst.

China announced this week that a joint military training and support center, located about 50km north of Laos' capital Vientiane, has begun operations. The facility includes a new airstrip and a flight academy, which China says will be used to train Laotian air force personnel. Bait Al Amanah researcher Thaha Albana Turmuzi says there is not enough information about the center and the nature of Chinese military presence there.

He says Putrajaya can get more information about the facility through diplomatic and ASEAN channels, particularly whether Chinese troops will be stationed permanently and how much access they will have to the facility. He says the priority should be to boost coordination, not openly pressure Laos on its ties with China. "Malaysia should first view this as a mutually beneficial arrangement between Laos and China, rather than automatically interpreting it as a threat," he told FMT.

Thaha says Malaysia should also monitor how this arrangement evolves, especially if military and infrastructure cooperation is expanded. He adds that this issue will become more important for Malaysia and ASEAN if China establishes more military facilities in the region. China controls another joint training and support center at Ream naval base in Cambodia, which gives China direct access to the Gulf of Thailand and a wider South China Sea.

The facility, opened last year, is the first Chinese military support facility abroad in the region. ISIS Malaysia's right flank, Thomas Daniel, says it is not clear what additional military advantages China will gain from the Laos facility given that the country already shares a border with Yunnan province in China. He says the facility looks like a smaller step but is designed to strengthen China's defense and political influence with friendly countries in the region.

He says the bigger issue for ASEAN is whether this linkage can avoid being drawn into the increasingly competitive rivalry between China and the United States. "If China is determined to further increase its military presence in the region, which the United States is already doing through permanent or temporary bases, the issue will become even more complex for ASEAN," he said.