Chinese national injured by blast along common border
China on Tuesday filed a protest with Myanmar after a landmine injured a Chinese national along the two countries' border.
"We learned that a Chinese national was injured by a landmine on the Chinese side of the China-Myanmar border on January 3," Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a regular press briefing on Tuesday, in response to reports that explosive shells from Myanmar had fallen into Chinese territory, injuring people and that a local Chinese boundary affairs worker was wounded.
The situation is under further investigation. The Chinese side is seriously concerned about that and has lodged solemn representations with the Myanmar side, she said.
Fresh fighting has broken out between the military and rebel groups in Myanmar's north, forcing hundreds of civilians to flee less than two weeks after a historic election victory for the party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in November, AFP reported.
Thousands of people have been displaced in the past month by ongoing clashes between government forces and the Shan State Army-North, with the Myanmar military launching airstrikes on ethnic insurgents.
The army confirmed fighting in Kachin and Shan states, areas of the country that have been plagued by armed ethnic conflicts throughout the nearly 70 years since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948.
"We asked the Myanmar side to take effective measures to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents, prevent the conflict in northern Myanmar from endangering the security of Chinese people's lives and property, and guarantee peace and stability in the China-Myanmar border," Hua noted.
Ye Htut, Myanmar's minister of information and spokesman for the president's office, declined to a request from Reuters for comment, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
China and Myanmar share a 2,000-kilometer border.
This is not the first time a Chinese national had been injured along the border.
In May, two bombs from Myanmar fell in Lincang and injured one Chinese and four Myanmese, two of them seriously. The accident also damaged cars and houses, according to the People's Daily.
The Chinese air force has intensified its border patrol. Myanmar later apologized and said it is willing to offer compensation.
On March 13, five Chinese people were killed by stray bombs which fell in Yunnan during fighting between Myanmar government forces and ethnic rebels.
On Monday, Suu Kyi said the peace process would be her new government's first priority, which will assume power later this year, Reuters reported.
