Laos and China mark 65 years of relations, deepen strategic partnership 

Lao President and Lao People Revolutionary Party Secretary General Thongloun Sisoulith commenced his state visit to China, from June 2 to 6, to discuss the advancement of a comprehensive strategic partnership. During that occasion, President Sisoulith met Chinese Premier Li Qiang and the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. This visit coincided with the 65th anniversary of bilateral relations between Laos and China, giving added weight to the discussions.

Five survivors evacuated from Laos flooded cave, two remain missing

On May 30, rescue teams evacuated five local villagers after they were trapped for 10 days inside a flooded cave in Xaysomboun Province, Laos. All survivors have already received appropriate treatments. However, the challenge still persists. As of June 3, the rescue team is still underway to locate two other villagers missing in a steeper area. 

Lao-Thai community marks traditional new year with food and dances in Paris

On May 17, several hundred members of Paris’s Lao and Thai communities gathered at the TEP Agnès Tirop sports ground in the city’s 10th arrondissement for the Fête populaire du Nouvel An lao/thaï, or the Lao-Thai New Year community festival, a one-day festival organised by the association Khao Niao Solidarité, which is the Lao diaspora association in France.

Laos and the Limits of China-Backed Development

Laos is not simply facing a debt crisis. It is hitting the structural ceiling of a development model built on large-scale Chinese finance, where rapid infrastructure expansion has come at the expense of fiscal resilience, productive capacity and economic flexibility.