Even so, much of the commentary has linked Ban Keun to Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, which Beijing helped finance and where it also funded a joint training center, and has read the two as part of a Chinese effort to encircle Vietnam from the west. The evidence so far supports a more cautious view. Satellite imagery shows the Ban Keun runway at about 2,000 meters, long enough for most Chinese fighters and the Y-20 transport, but well short of the roughly 3,000 meters long-range bombers such as the H-6 need.
mandag 26. oktober 2026
Cambodia and Laos are not pawns in a Chinese encirclement
In late September, China and Laos opened a Beijing-funded training and support center and an aviation academy at Ban Keun airport, about 50 kilometers north of Vientiane. China’s Ministry of National Defense says the facility will train Lao Air Force pilots and is “not directed against any third party.”
Even so, much of the commentary has linked Ban Keun to Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, which Beijing helped finance and where it also funded a joint training center, and has read the two as part of a Chinese effort to encircle Vietnam from the west. The evidence so far supports a more cautious view. Satellite imagery shows the Ban Keun runway at about 2,000 meters, long enough for most Chinese fighters and the Y-20 transport, but well short of the roughly 3,000 meters long-range bombers such as the H-6 need.
Even so, much of the commentary has linked Ban Keun to Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, which Beijing helped finance and where it also funded a joint training center, and has read the two as part of a Chinese effort to encircle Vietnam from the west. The evidence so far supports a more cautious view. Satellite imagery shows the Ban Keun runway at about 2,000 meters, long enough for most Chinese fighters and the Y-20 transport, but well short of the roughly 3,000 meters long-range bombers such as the H-6 need.