Border posts get power connection to boost terror fight

Border defense stations in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region were connected to power supplies on Monday in a move that will boost their operational capabilities.

Stable power supplies are essential to operate surveillance cameras which will enhance the ability to catch terrorists or separatists who try to cross the border illegally, a leading army officer said.

The People's Liberation Army's border defense company in Tashkuegan Tajik autonomous county's Khunjerab Pass on the Pamir Plateau installed high-definition surveillance cameras on the mountain passes that lead to Pakistan in September 2013 but their effectiveness was hindered by unreliable power supplies.

"Our company's base used to be powered by solar panels and diesel. When it snowed the electricity generated was limited and couldn't support the high-tech equipment that helps us guard the frontier, which is more important then ever," Huang Xiaoming, commander of the company, said on Monday.

Forces stationed in Tashkuegan, near the Wakhan Corridor which separates China and Afghanistan, will also be connected to the power grid in September. Huang said some tribal terrorist cells in Afghanistan are still quite active near the corridor and pose a threat.

Some of the terrorists who plotted attacks in Xinjiang were trained in other countries.

"Our basic mission is not to let one terrorist or weapon into China. We are even responsible for stopping and checking herdsmen and their livestock, such as yaks," said Wang whose company is in charge of the 96 km border between China and Pakistan.

Inspection forces belong to the armed police based close to the China and Pakistan border and have also installed X-ray systems to check vehicles for weapons and drugs.

The 116-km power line, from the generating plant in the county seat of Tashkuegan, cost almost 100 million yuan ($16.2 million), said Jiang Guoping, deputy manager of Tashkuegan electricity supply company. "The project mainly serves the border defense forces but it has also given power supplies to 60 local herdsmen."