That's only if you ignore that the whole of what history thinks is "the war for independence" was really a war of conquest where Laos stopped being a French col

That's only if you ignore that the whole of what history thinks is "the war for independence" was really a war of conquest where Laos stopped being a French colony and became a Russian/Chinese one. "Come on now, you have to honor this loan aggreement, the guys we installed with our tank columns in 1975 signed it..."