China dispatches fighter jets to Myanmar border
China has dispatched fighter jets to the border with Myanmar after a Burmese warplane reportedly dropped a bomb on Chinese territory, killing four civilians and injuring nine others.
China sent several warplanes to "track, monitor, warn and chase away" Myanmar military planes approaching the common border, Chinese Air force spokesman Colonel Shen Jinke said on Saturday.
Shen also added that Beijing would watchfully monitor the airspace along its border with Myanmar.
The Myanmar warplane dropped the bomb on a sugarcane field in China’s southwestern Yunnan province on Friday.
The event happened as the Myanmar government intensified its fight against ethnic Chinese rebels in the country's Kokang region in northeastern Shan state along China's border.
Thousands of people have recently been forced to cross the border into China due to the upsurge in violence.
Myanmar officials say former Chinese military officers have trained the rebels, formally known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a claim rejected by the insurgents.
Beijing, too, denies any relation with the Myanma rebels, saying it respects the country's sovereignty.
A Chinese military commander Saturday warned of a strong response unless Myanmar prevented warfare with the rebels from spilling into Chinese territory.
“The top echelons in the Myanmar military must strictly control and restrain their forces, and there can be absolutely no repeat of such incidents,” General Fan Changlong, a vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, told the commander in chief of Myanmar’s military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, in a phone conversation.
“Otherwise, the Chinese military will take resolute and decisive measures to protect Chinese people’s lives and property,” Fan stressed.
The MNDAA seeks to retake a self-administered area on the restive Myanmar-China border, which was under their control between 1989 and 2009 during the latest truce between the Myanmar government and the rebels.
MSM/NT
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