Iron-wire wall on China-Myanmar border prevents illegal crossings

Pictures and videos of the walls made of iron wire standing along the border line between China and Myanmar have gone viral in recent days as the sudden spike of COVID-19 cases in some border cities of Southwest China’s Yunnan Province has attracted national attention on strengthening epidemic prevention from overseas.

Yunnan reported eight confirmed domestic COVID-19 cases, and another nine imported cases in July. The eight domestic ones were detected in Ruili, a city bordering Myanmar that has witnessed the most domestic confirmed cases of COVID-19 in China since Monday and imposed a lockdown.

In recent days, pictures and videos of iron wire walls standing in border cities in Yunnan have attracted Chinese netizens’ attention with some saying that “these are firewalls built over one night to prevent imported cases from spreading.” Some pictures taken at night showed the iron wire walls were built along the long borderline between China and Myanmar.

The Global Times learned from an official of the Ruili government who asked for anonymity that the walls were not built recently. In fact, they were built since the first lockdown in Ruili at the end of September 2020. Besides the iron wire, there are cameras on the walls to prevent illegal border crossings.

The city also arranged for staff to patrol along the walls. Cameras on the walls caught people trying to climbing over, and those found doing so would be detained, said the official, noting that some villagers used to help with illegal border-crossing for money. But with the implementation of strict prevention measures and popularizing of law among villagers, few people will take the risk.

Ruili continued to strengthen border control measures. Illegally crossing the national border will be severely punished, and stowaways and those who organize, assist or shelter them will face severe punishment as well, Zhai Yulong, secretary of the Ruili Committee of the Communist Party of China, said on July 7.