Border residents dispel Myanmar refugee rumors
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, February 12, 2012
Li Shengguo, a merchant living on the China-Myanmar border said he knew nothing of the Myanmar "refugee crisis" some media have reported. "I don't understand why they said Myanmar refugees are flooding into China," he said.
Thousands of refugees bringing tales of rape and violence have flooded across the border into China, fleeing fighting between Myanmar government troops and ethnic minority Kachin rebels, Reuters reported on Friday.
A border officer at the checkpoint said entries and exits through the passageway have been "normal" and the so-called "influx of refugees" reported online is "sheer rumor."
"No Myanmar refugees have entered China through our checkpoint, as far as I know," he said in a Saturday interview with Xinhua.
Li Shengguo's home in Nabang township of Yingjiang county, Dehong prefecture, faces Myanmar's city of Lazan across a border river. He travels across the border almost every day to trade currency.
"The border region is stable nowadays, and we hope it always will be," he said. "Stability is crucial to my business and everyone else's lives."
|
|
|
the China-Myanmar border (file photo) |
A public security officer in Yingjiang, which borders Myanmar's Kachin state, said the county is prepared to provide food and lodging in case Myanmar border residents ever do enter China amid escalating armed conflicts in their country.
"We have detailed plans for an emergency response," the officer said on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman with the government of Dehong prefecture said the border region is stable and in good order.
"Most of the Myanmar citizens who regularly enter China have relatives here," he said.
Last year, about 2,000 Myanmar border residents, mostly women, children and elderly people, entered Dehong prefecture to seek shelter with their Chinese relatives amid escalating violence at home, the official said.
"All of them returned to Myanmar after their domestic situation eased."
Across the border river that separates Yingjiang and Myanmar, shelter camps can be seen.
A Yingjiang resident who has visited the camps said they are just like any other border village and are in even better condition than many Myanmar homes.
"The camp dwellers can freely cross the border and go shopping in China by showing their passes," he said.
Yingjiang county's deputy chief Zhang Ming said the Chinese government donated medicine worth a total of 100,000 yuan to the camps at the end of last year, upon the Myanmar government's approval.
"Most of the drugs were for malaria and dengue fever," he said. "The Chinese government is ready to provide more aid if Myanmar border residents need help."
(Xinhua News Agency contributed to the story)
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)