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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    China Border Fence, Aimed at Curbing COVID-19 Spread, Draws Complaints in Myanmar

    China Border Fence, Aimed at Curbing COVID-19 Spread, Draws Complaints in Myanmar-aa83de9b-94a6-4262-b30e-a4cff449ff39-jpeg

    Chinese authorities building a fence topped with barbed-wire along China’s border with Myanmar’s Shan state to curb the spread of the coronavirus failed to hold pre-construction talks with their Myanmar counterparts and may have infringed upon the officially demarcated border line, local administrators said.


    Work began on the “Southern Great Wall” earlier this year, of which 660 kilometers (410 miles) have already been completed, RFA reported on Dec. 14. Chinese authorities started erecting the border fence along three townships of the Kokang Self-administered Zone in September.


    The fence, three meters (10 feet) high in some places, is intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic by stopping illegal crossings in both directions, according to Chinese media.


    Ngwe Doe, general administrator of Laukkai township, said Chinese authorities told him that the purpose of the fence is to prevent illegal border crossings during the height of the COVID-19 virus and that it will be removed when the pandemic is over.


    As of Tuesday, Myanmar reported 117,946 COVID-19 cases and 2,484 deaths, while China continued to report 86,867 confirmed cases and 4,634 total deaths, according to information from health ministries in both countries.


    “The fence is made of iron poles and barbed wire, which seems temporary,” Ngwe Doe said. “I didn't see security cameras at the location I observed, but they said there is one or two in some areas. So far, they haven’t electrified the fence.”


    The governors of Laukkai township inspected the border fence in November and early December and protested to Chinese authorities about it.


    Complaints arose over whether the construction of the fence violated a border demarcation treaty the two countries signed in 1961 that prohibits the building of structures or barriers within 10 meters (33 feet) of the borderline.


    Ngwe Doe said the fence does not cover entire the 39-mile-long border in Laukkai township, but rather locations where they are frequent unofficial border crossings.


    Part of the fence near border post BP-125 was within 10 meters of the official borderline, while post BP-131 was on the Chinese side of the border, he said.


    Myint Khine, general secretary of the Kokang Democratic Party, said the Chinese are building border fences in areas in other regions of Myanmar.


    “I don’t know what their intentions are,” he said. “We’ve got nothing to protest about if they comply with the border treaty, regardless of what their intentions are.”



    Protests lodged over fence


    Thein Min Tun, director of the Border Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that temporary fences are allowed under the treaty, but permanent barriers are not.


    The Myanmar government has lodged protests concerning eight locations where the fence has violated the 10-meter rule, he said.


    “We have lodged protests over the parts that have violated the treaty; it does not cover entire border,” Thein Min Tun said. “The China-Myanmar border is very lengthy, so they don’t need to build a fence along the entire border. Some of the fencing falls within 10 meters of the border, but some doesn’t. We have lodged protests over the parts that fall within 10 meters.”


    Chinese and Myanmar authorities will meet to discuss the issue, he added.


    The Myanmar military also sent a letter to Chinese officials objecting to the fence construction of in Laukkai township, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported in late November, citing military spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun.


    A local battalion objected based on the 1961 treaty after Chinese authorities built fences near border post BP-125 and between posts BP-121 and BP-122 in November, the report said.


    In response to complaints from local administrators and the military, China suspended construction work, and Kokang officials visited the site to negotiate with officials involved in the construction work, the report said.


    Siling, a China-Myanmar relations analyst, told RFA Mandarin Service in an earlier report that the construction of the border fence was not an immediate measure only to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic but a long-term measure for other purposes.


    “The wall is not an idea that came up overnight,” he said. “It is a carefully crafted project” to prevent citizens on both sides from easy border crossing.


    “Another purpose for China to build the border wall is to prevent the Chinese citizens from escaping,” Soling said. “China does not want to see the escaping [to Southeast Asia] trend continuing.”


    RFA called the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar for comment and was referred to the media relations department, which did not respond.


    RFA also contacted President’s Office spokesman Zaw Htay, Shan state government spokesman Soe Nyunt Lwin, and Shan state secretary Nay Lynn, but they hadn’t respond by publication time.


    “There are many areas along the border where interlopers can cross the border illegally,” said Ye Htun, a former lower house lawmaker representing Shan state’s Hsipaw township.


    In Muse township, people can easily cross the border via trials that cut across farms, while houses on the China side of the border are very close to the demarcation line, he said.


    “So they [Chinese authorities] might be wary of infections across the border,” Ye Htun said. “The COVID-19 outbreak began in China after all. Thai authorities are now actively arresting illegal border crossers from Myanmar. China might be doing the same thing.”




    Porous border


    Khine Win, executive director of Sandhi Governance Institute, a Yangon-based think tank, also said that that the fence project was likely meant to contain the spread of the highly contagious respiratory virus.


    “I have been to Laukkai. There are casinos with patrons mostly from China. It is possible that they only intend to contain the outbreak,” he said.


    China and Myanmar share a porous 2,227-kilometer (1,384-mile) border with China that workers and migrants cross daily.


    Though the two countries agreed to have joint inspections of the officially demarcated boundary every five years under the 1961 border protocol, the last review was conducted in 1995.


    China Border Fence, Aimed at Curbing COVID-19 Spread, Draws Complaints in Myanmar — Radio Free Asia
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails China Border Fence, Aimed at Curbing COVID-19 Spread, Draws Complaints in Myanmar-aa83de9b-94a6-4262-b30e-a4cff449ff39-jpeg  

  2. #2
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    Border walls, fences, and all things designed to keep people immobile are quite trendy this year.

  3. #3
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    And Myanmar will be paying for the border wall?

  4. #4
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wonton View Post
    And Myanmar will be paying for the border wall?
    With the amount the chinkies have extracted from them, they already have.

    NEW DELHI: Myanmar’s auditor general in a startling announcement has cautioned government officials about continued reliance on Chinese loans both pre-BRI and BRI loans that come with high rates of interest.

    Myanmar's current national debt stands at about $10 billion, of which $ 4 billion is owed to China, Auditor General Maw Than told a news conference in Naypyidaw on Monday. This can push Myanmar to debt trap like Sri Lanka and some African states.

    Read more at:
    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/myanmars-auditor-general-cautions-own-govt-against-chinese-loans/articleshow/76346777.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medi um=text&utm_campaign=cppst

  5. #5
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    So the gap at the bottom is to allow ingress of native animal species?

  6. #6
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    ^ the gap in your bottom is to allow ingress of butterfluffers sperm

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat OhOh's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    With the amount the chinkies have extracted from them, they already have.
    You may wish to read this report from:

    United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

    (PDF) Myanmar-China peculiar relationship: Trade, investment and the model of development

    You may of course want to read this:

    Myanmar’s Foreign Debt — The Big Picture

    Myanmar’s Foreign Debt — The Big Picture

    Both of which illustrate how western banks have loaned the country funds, once realising their previous imposed sanctions were unable to slow Myanmar's development. The recent funds from western banks, Japanese, ameristani, German and French.

    The second has an easy, multi-page cartoon, you can click through.

    Or not, preferring to:

    China Border Fence, Aimed at Curbing COVID-19 Spread, Draws Complaints in Myanmar-businesswoman-burying-her-head-jpg
    A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Well fucking hell HooHoo, it's almost like you think you're telling the truth and the Auditor General of Myanmar is lying.

    Guess who I think is a lying sack of chinky arse licking shit?

    Hint: It's not the Auditor General of Myanmar.

  9. #9
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    “Another purpose for China to build the border wall is to prevent the Chinese citizens from escaping,”
    What, to Burma? Geddalife.

  10. #10
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    What, to Burma? Geddalife.
    I don't suppose through Burma entered that empty head of yours.

  11. #11
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    Oh, right. To Bangladesh then. Land of milk n honey.

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Oh, right. To Bangladesh then. Land of milk n honey.
    And obviously geography isn't one of your strong points either.

    Obviously the fence is to keep out Rohynga who, seeing the sterling hospitality provided to the Uighurs by the chinkies, are queuing up to get in.

  13. #13
    Member TheMadBaron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Oh, right. To Bangladesh then.
    Shan State, Myanmar, borders China's Yunnan province. Shan also borders Laos and Thailand. Yunnan itself also borders Laos. Shan does not border Bangladesh.

    Do you need another clue?

  14. #14
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    Quite inconvenient for some lucrative smuggling routes. Did someone mention opium? And of course the self declared Shan state, at war with the Burmese government, loves unfettered access to the adjacent, also ethnically Shan contiguous border regions of surrounding states. There are any number of good reasons why China is well advised to tighten the borders to this narco 'state'.

    Unfortunately, hordes of oppressed Chinese masses fleeing the tyranny and poverty of their motherland is not one of them.

  15. #15
    Thailand Expat lom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    There are any number of good reasons why China is well advised to tighten the borders to this narco 'state'.
    Won't it be more difficult for the chinks when they are to deliver the chemicals needed for cooking meth?

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Unfortunately, hordes of oppressed Chinese masses fleeing the tyranny and poverty of their motherland is not one of them.
    Riiight.

    Essex lorry deaths: 39 found dead were Chinese nationals

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50162617

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bsnub View Post
    Essex lorry deaths: 39 found dead were Chinese nationals
    Vietnamese ?

    Essex lorry deaths: two found guilty over manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese people | Crime | The Guardian

  18. #18
    Member TheMadBaron's Avatar
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    Vietnamese. I wonder why they were originally believed to be Chinese, then?

    BBC News | UK | 58 dead in port lorry

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    All look alike, don't they ?

  20. #20
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    Thanks snubble, for unwittingly providing a prime example of the sort of anti-Chinese bias rampant in western media today. Is it not blatantly obvious that you are being propagandized?
    No different than the nonsensical insinuation that some border fence in the lawless shan region is to prevent a mass exodus of poor huddled chinky masses.

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Is it not blatantly obvious that you are being propagandized?
    Nope. There is no question that many Chinese make an attempt to flee their homeland. Your denial of that fact is just pure ignorance. The overwhelming majority of the country is a bleak third world shithole. As usual your Putin/Xi worship is on display.

  22. #22
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    Interesting. How many times have you been there? Where in China, specifically? I've only been a coupla dozen times myself. I must have simply failed to notice this "two thirds of the country that is a bleak third world shithole". Such armchair expertise on your behalf must proceed from something, or are you just swallowing propaganda, repeating lies and gross exaggerations, and still fighting last centuries cold war in your feeble mind?

  23. #23
    Member TheMadBaron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Interesting. How many times have you been there? Where in China, specifically? I've only been a coupla dozen times myself. I must have simply failed to notice this "two thirds of the country that is a bleak third world shithole". Such armchair expertise on your behalf must proceed from something, or are you just swallowing propaganda, repeating lies and gross exaggerations, and still fighting last centuries cold war in your feeble mind?
    Four logical fallacies in one post. Impressive.

  24. #24
    Thailand Expat jabir's Avatar
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    Nothing wrong with walls and fences, common reasons are that these are to deter smugglers and illegal migrants, but best of all is to cut the crap and state it as it is, to protect sovereignty with a hard border.

    Note for the politically squeamish: walls are not new, they're all over the place, and part of human history:
    Border walls: 77 walls or fences around world, many erected since 9/11

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Interesting. How many times have you been there? Where in China, specifically? I've only been a coupla dozen times myself. I must have simply failed to notice this "two thirds of the country that is a bleak third world shithole". Such armchair expertise on your behalf must proceed from something, or are you just swallowing propaganda, repeating lies and gross exaggerations, and still fighting last centuries cold war in your feeble mind?
    I am sorry it is a worker's paradise with candy cane lanes and roads paved of gold. The people live in absolute paradise. Carry on then.

    China Border Fence, Aimed at Curbing COVID-19 Spread, Draws Complaints in Myanmar-f408a406bb2e0b4a8e9427511c628fb4-gif

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