Laos turns to Beijing, but shadow of debt looms over Xi-Thongloun summit

Laos President and General Secretary of the Laos People’s Revolutionary Party, Thongloun Sisoulith, is in Beijing this week for high-level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The visit is rich in diplomatic symbolism but notably restrained on big-ticket economic announcements, as Laos grapples with a debt crisis that analysts say China helped create. The two leaders met on Friday, with Xi expressing China’s willingness to “achieve a new leap in bilateral ties” and build what he called an “all-weather China-Laos community with a shared future in the new era,” according to a report by Global Times. Following the talks, both…