Vietnam Holds Non-Aligned Line on China-Laos Base — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- China opened a Joint Logistics and Training Center at Ban Keun, Laos, to train air force pilots, joining the China-funded Ream Naval Base facility in Cambodia to give its military coverage over Indochinese airspace and toward the Gulf of Thailand.
- Vietnam's Prime Minister Le Minh Hung made his first official visit since assuming office in April to Laos and Cambodia, reaffirming "great friendship, special solidarity, comprehensive cooperation, and strategic cohesion" ahead of the 50th anniversary of the 1977 Vietnam-Laos Treaty of Friendship.
- The 1991 Paris Peace Agreements that normalized China-Vietnam ties on the condition neither would seek Indochinese hegemony are now under stress test — neither country had maintained permanent bases in Laos or Cambodia for over three decades after the accords ended the Third Indochina War.
- Vietnam cannot ally with a great power to counter the bases because no power can replicate the Soviet Union's backing that failed to prevent Chinese punishment in the late 1970s-80s; hosting a counter-base or attacking the Chinese facilities would invite escalation, the source argues.
- Vietnam's diplomatic strategy includes pressing Laos and Cambodia for transparency, invoking the Paris Peace Agreements, and encouraging diverse foreign access — Cambodia has already invited warship visits from Vietnam, Japan, the U.S., Australia, and India to Ream to dilute Chinese exclusivity.
- Counter-framing the source surfaces: analysts who view the bases as a failure of Hanoi's China policy overlook that Beijing labels the facilities "joint centers" (not bases), stationed its air force and navy rather than its army, and has not obstructed Vietnam's maritime land-reclamation — signaling China wants its southern border stable while focusing on Taiwan.
Why it matters: Vietnam's refusal to seek a counter-alliance means the post-1991 neutrality framework for Indochina now depends almost entirely on whether Laos and Cambodia grant China deeper exclusive access — a determination Vietnam cannot compel by force and must instead negotiate diplomatically with countries it cannot replace as security partners.
Ask SkimNews
