China opens new joint airbase in Laos on airstrip built by the CIA
China has opened a new joint airbase in Laos on an airstrip that the CIA built during the Vietnam war. The facility is prompting questions about China's expanding influence in the region.
China has opened a new joint airbase in Laos, a country in Southeast Asia. The base sits on an airstrip that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) built during the Vietnam war.
The opening is raising questions about how far Chinese influence in the region may expand. According to the source, that influence is the central concern prompted by the new facility.
The airstrip links the site to an earlier period of great-power involvement in the area: it was built by the American intelligence service during the Vietnam war, and it now hosts a joint base.
No further details about the base's use, size or the circumstances of its opening were provided in the available report.
