Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on 27 December that the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army launched ’emergency’ mine clearance along the border with Myanmar.

This border area is adjacent to Muse Township in Myanmar, which saw a very high number of landmine casualties during the previous year according to Landmine Monitor Report 2018.

The use of the term ’emergency’ suggests that the mines are recent, although this has not been confirmed by Chinese authorities. The clearance work is occurring in Dehong Dai, in the Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. Xinhua reports that the clearance teams were the same ones which were involved in China’s third round of clearance on its border with Vietnam.

Muse township is the site of much current armed conflict in Myanmar, and it is likely that these mines are ‘blow over’ from Myanmar’s ongoing civil war.

URL: “De-mining mission along China-Myanmar border kicks off,” Xinhua, 27 December 2018