Shellings from Myanmar forces threaten stability
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) will begin live-ammunition joint drills involving ground and air forces along the volatile Myanmar border on Tuesday, a move military observers believe serves as a warning against the escalating military transgressions of the Myanmar armed forces.
Zhao Picong, the PLA's Chengdu Military Area Command spokesperson, said on Sunday that the joint live-fire drills will take place in two counties in southwestern Yunnan Province, which border Myanmar's Kokang region, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement on its website on Monday.
The PLA said Chinese authorities have informed Myanmar of the drills, with the end of the drills to be announced later.
No aircraft will be allowed to enter the airspace of the drills without permission, and vehicles entering the drill areas in Gengma and Zhenkang counties in the province will be subject to traffic controls, according to the statement. Locals will not be allowed to enter the drill areas without a permit.
No further details as to what kind of weapons would be used or the form of the exercises were provided in the statement.
According to the PLA Daily's official WeChat account, thousands of soldiers and militiamen, fighter jets and hundreds of heavy-duty military hardware will gather in the tropical jungles to test the military's ability to deal with emergencies and defend land and air borders.
The PLA's airforce, infantry, missile force and border guards will join the drills and practice coordination between different forces at the borders, said the PLA Daily.
The joint military exercises are the first to be announced in the area since tensions flared at the China-Myanmar border, close to northeastern Myanmar's Shan state, where Myanmar government troops have been battling Kokang rebels.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday that the drills are normal army activities.
China has urged all sides in Myanmar to exercise restraint and avoid an escalation of tensions that will threaten peace and order along the China-Myanmar border, she said.
Yue Gang, a military commentator and retired PLA colonel, said the Chinese military's move will help improve the country's defense capabilities in the region, and to send a signal that it is serious in "putting out fire in its backyard."
"Over the last few months, the Myanmar military has repeatedly transgressed the Chinese border and caused Chinese casualties. This has broken the decades-long peace along the border, and has gone beyond China's tolerance level," Yue told the Global Times on Monday.
China has repeatedly demanded that Myanmar take greater steps to deter the ongoing conflicts in the country from spilling over into Chinese territory.
On May 14, two shells fired from Myanmar fell on Zhenkang county, Lincang city, Yunnan and injured five people, including a Chinese national and four from Myanmar.
In March, China sent fighter jets to patrol the border after five Chinese people were killed when a Myanmar warplane dropped a bomb in a sugarcane field also in Lincang.
The incident sparked widespread outrage in China, and the Ministry of National Defense vowed on March 14 to take resolute measures should Myanmar war planes cross the border again or engage in other acts which harm China's security.
In late March, the PLA reportedly conducted a nighttime live-fire drill in mountainous areas west of Yunnan province, involving a brigade from the Yunnan-based 14th Army Corps.
Observers point out that the pattern of Chinese military exercises has shifted from involving a single force to combining the strength of two or more forces to increase combat capabilities.
"The ground force has been the strongest force in China. Its rocket artillery, which is the PLA's most powerful weapon, has a long shooting range. The air force, on the other hand, will provide protection to ground operations," Yue said.
Fu Qianshao, a Beijing-based air defense expert, said cooperation between the ground and air forces is essential to conducting efficient operations in mountainous areas near the border.
The ability of the ground force will be limited in mountainous areas due to the difficulty of gathering information about its surroundings. Joint exercises with the air force is essential in conducting complex military operations, Fu told the Global Times.
