China has opened a new joint military training and support facility in Laos, raising fresh questions about Beijing’s expanding military footprint in Southeast Asia. The China-Laos Joint Support and Training Center and China-Laos Friendship Aviation Academy are now operational near Ban Keun, around 50 km north of Vientiane.Satellite imagery shows the rapid transformation of farmland into a military airfield featuring a paved runway, taxiway, aircraft apron and new buildings. Beijing says the facility will train air force pilots and is “not directed against any third party.” But the development comes amid growing U.S.-China strategic competition across the Indo-Pacific.