Civilians have removed a fence erected by Chinese officials in Muse Township, claiming they built it inside of Burma and not in China.
“China constructed a fence on Burmese soil, so the locals removed it,” said one man about the 25 October incident in Pang Kham village.
Residents refuse to accept the fence, which was built on 18 October and affects 19 villages in Muse and Namkham townships.
On 12 September, residents of Hek Hing in Mang Hiro sub township, Muse District, removed a section of it passing by their village.
In another complaint, residents of Mang Mai ward in Pang Hseng reported that in mid-October, the Chinese filled in a ten-foot-wide creek with earth to make a road on the Burmese side of the border. Chinese officials threatened farmers in the area with a boycott of their sugarcane if they refuse to allow construction to proceed.
In Mongkoe town, Chinese officials warned civilians displaced by fighting between the Burma Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army not to camp along the fence on the Burma side of the border.
China began building the border fence after the pandemic started, but residents report that parts of it extends into Burma. The Burma-China border is 2,100 km long and stretches from Kachin to Shan State.
