War in Burma Approaching Chinese Border

Chinese residents near the Chinese border told of intense bombing, with bombs also falling on the Chinese side.
War in Burma Approaching Chinese Border
8/30/2009
Updated:
9/29/2015
Watch NTDTV report on “Burmese Refugees Leave China.”

The Burmese Army clashed with the Kokang Army in the Chinese District of Kokang on August 28. Chinese residents near the Chinese border said there was intense bombing near the border with bombs also falling on the Chinese side.

The Deputy Director of the Yunnan Red Cross confirmed one dead and several injured in China. By early morning of August 28, over 10,000 refugees from Burma had rushed into Yunnan Province. Authorities in China sent in the military to block the border.Trade between the two countries has stopped.

According to a Global Times report on the 29th, refugees in Nansan Port in Yunnan said that there were still thousands trapped in Kokang, who were in desperate need of water and food.

Nansan Town, located on the southwestern border of Yunnan, is less than a mile away from Kokang. A resident told Radio Free Asia on August 28 that the fighting started at 5 p.m. on the 27th. On the morning of 28th, he still heard machine guns and bombings. “We haven’t been hit by mistake but they got bombed over in Qingshuihe,” said the resident.

A witness said that the war front had moved to Guanyin Mountain, three miles south of the Chinese border. Many people including civilians have been injured. To prevent the war from spreading to China, Chinese authorities have closed the southwestern border of Yunnan between Nansan and Qingshuihe.

A Chinese man who came back from Kokang said that at one point Nansan was overcrowded with people returning. The Chinese man and many others waited three hours before they could get back to China from Laogai City in Burma.

Authority in Yunnan set up seven places to settle the refugees at the border. A man who participated in the rescue said that the local hotels were full of refugees.

“Most of the refugees have Chinese ancestry. Their ancestors came from China and they have lived in Kokang many generations,” said a resident in Nansan.

Many businessmen from China suffered losses during the fighting. Director of the Revenue Service Office in Kokang confirmed that there were tens of thousands of people from China doing business in Kokang. Over 90 percent of shops in Laogai City were owned by the Chinese.

The battle impacted China’s economy as well. Beijing is one of the few supporters of the Burma military junta, and is a major investor in construction and energy projects in Kakang. The battle also threatened China’s petroleum and natural gas projects in Kokang.

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