China has sent a military convoy into the border nation of Laos, which is raising concerns of Laotians who have bad memories of colonization from world powers. The military is being moved into a permanent “Training Center,” which is raising even more red flags among the local population.
China Sends its Military to Laos and Calls it a “Training Center”: “We had a very bad experience with the French during colonial times” – El Mundo America
News Source
EXCERPT:
A Chinese military convoy crosses a road leading to Ban Keun airport, about 45 kilometers north of Vientiane, the capital of Laos. “China is always helping us a lot, but I don’t like seeing soldiers from other countries here,” says a middle-aged Laotian taxi driver in good English who cannot explain what those Chinese soldiers are doing there. “We had a very bad experience with the French during colonial times and then with the United States during the Vietnam War bombings.”
The scene summarizes Beijing’s latest advance in this small and peaceful Southeast Asian country: after trains, construction companies, and tourists, military facilities arrive. The chosen name avoids the word base. Instead, two friendlier words appear: training and friendship.
The Chinese Ministry of Defense has announced the opening of a “support and training center” in Laos. It has not detailed how many Chinese soldiers will be there, what equipment they will bring, or how long they will stay. But the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) gains access to an air infrastructure in the heart of Indochina. Pilot training is the announced mission; the future scope of that presence remains unexplained.
