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Published: 10:06, October 25, 2021 | Updated: 10:06, October 25, 2021
Border patrol officers rise to COVID challenge
By Li Yingqing in Kunming and Chen Meiling
Published:10:06, October 25, 2021 Updated:10:06, October 25, 2021 By Li Yingqing in Kunming and Chen Meiling

Family time sacrificed as hard work keeps cases at bay

The China-Myanmar border is patrolled by police in Ruili. (HE XINGYU / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Bai Ze wolfed down his dinner at 6 pm before being rushed off to perform his duty-patrolling the China-Myanmar border at the Zhangfeng land port in Ruili, Yunnan province.

The 2-year-old police dog was clad in a black jacket, giving him a commanding presence.

Gao Leiyang, the animal's handler, said well-trained police dogs have acute senses of smell, hearing and vision and are highly flexible and irreplaceable for inspection work.

Border areas around the port are covered in lush vegetation and also have complex sewage systems, making it easy for criminals to hide. While patrolling at midnight in April, Bai Ze barked and police officers captured a foreigner attempting to enter China illegally through a sewer.

Yunnan is home to 25 border counties in eight prefectures or cities, and there is a high risk of COVID-19 cases being imported to China.

Several outbreaks of the virus have been reported in the province since the pandemic broke out. Many imported cases have been spread in border communities such as Ruili.

Officers mount a night patrol on the China-Myanm

To strengthen prevention and control efforts, police, health workers and villagers are on call 24 hours a day to clamp down on illegal migration and to promote health guidance and vaccination.

Jiexiang village in southern Ruili shares rivers, mountains and fields with Myanmar, and residents from China and Myanmar, who have a long history of trading and intermarrying, are standing together to fight the virus.

Jiexiang is home to the largest industrial park in Ruili, which employs more than 2,000 workers from Myanmar who cannot speak Chinese. A special coordinated service team comprising police, medical workers and villagers has been set up by the Jiexiang border police station.

When patrols detect people intending to enter or leave China illegally, the health workers disinfect and quarantine them. Members of the team from Myanmar provide interpretation services for illegal immigrants.

A police officer cleans a border post in Ruili. (WANG JIANXUN / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Yu Haiyang, 28, an officer at the station, works more than 10 hours a day on average. When travelers complain about long waiting times for border inspection, he said he greets them with a smile.

Meng Hanshuai, a Myanmar national who moved to Jiexiang after marrying a Chinese woman 12 years ago, has volunteered to join the team. He outlines efforts to contain the pandemic to workers from Myanmar.

"We feel at home here in China, and I believe everyone will stay safe," he said.

Hu Wenwu, an instructor at the station, said every effort is made to guard the border and prevent cases of COVID-19 being imported to China.

Police in Ruili support pandemic control measures at Gaojie Port. (HE XINGYU / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Traffic inspections

Along the 12-km-long Ruili River, which forms part of the border between China and Myanmar, officers from the task force at Ruili police station prevent people stowing away on vessels, including kayaks and rafts. In addition to patrolling the river, they inspect road traffic.

Wang Youyu, head of the team, said: "Since September last year, our team members have worn protective clothing each day to transfer illegal immigrants, other criminal suspects and those who surrender to police. We also have eight ambulances on the roads.

"Sometimes, the officers don't have time for dinner and they work until midnight, while in summer, they are soaked in sweat."

The officers mainly eat instant noodles and sleep in tents, enabling them to act immediately a suspicious incident is reported along the river. They don't have clean drinking water, electricity or internet access, Wang said.

To date, the team has seized 47 vessels operating illegally, 40 illegal immigrants and turned back 35 people trying to enter China unlawfully from Myanmar. Since January last year, team members have transferred to China about 13,000 Chinese who entered Myanmar illegally, but turned themselves in to police, as they wanted to escape the virus.

Police keep a watchful eye on the border area in Ruili. (YANG TINGTING / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Zhang Juntian, deputy head of the team, said, "We cannot relax for one moment, because there is always hidden danger."

Taking only a few days off when his wife had their baby, Zhang said: "She understands and supports my work. She often says that only when everyone stays on top of their job can Ruili be truly safe."

According to experts, guarding the borders in Southwest China is key to preventing COVID-19 cases, which is vitally important nationwide and "a bottom line for security" as the nation pursues the goal of zero infections.

Ruan Chengfa, former Party secretary of Yunnan, said the province aims to plug loopholes in illegal immigration and emigration by improving infrastructure, tightening inspections and optimizing community governance.

When night falls, the 160-km border with Myanmar in Ruili is lit for patrol work, and more than 3,500 border workers on are duty in different shifts day and night. In some remote areas, the local power supply bureau has invested more than 3 million yuan ($468,300) to supply electricity.

Thousands of locals have also sacrificed their holidays and family reunions.

Li Ruizhong, an officer with the exit and entry management unit at Tengchong police station, helps foreigners worried about the pandemic, calling them in individually to reassure them and provide self-protection instruction.

When the pandemic emerged, vehicles were barred from the roads in Tengchong and the border points were closed. Li and her colleagues helped more than 800 people from Myanmar return home. She also worked overtime to track outsiders and investigate criminal cases that threatened border security.

Officers inspect the border area in Jiexiang, Ruili. (WANG JIANXUN / FOR CHINA DAILY)

However, this work meant she had no time to spend with her daughter.

Li said: "She took the national college entrance examination last year, but when I came home feeling exhausted, she had already fallen asleep. Every time she saw me answering phone calls, she complained that I was not taking good care of the family."

The good news is that her daughter was accepted for university entrance.

Instead of returning home to celebrate the National Day holiday early this month, Zi Xinyun visited a resident surnamed Chen in Leiyun village, Yunnan, on Oct 2 to help dry his rice. Zi and his colleagues routinely patrol the area each day to tell locals about pandemic control measures.

Zi, who works at the Leiyun branch of the Ruili immigration inspection station, said Leiyun is a border village where legal awareness is low and where teenagers sometimes commit criminal offenses. "Our work not only involves guarding the border gate, but also helping local residents," he said.

Zi has not seen his family for three months. He returned to the office at 7 pm one day to make a video call to his wife, in which he noticed candles had been placed on a cake to celebrate his child's second birthday.

"They are kind of getting used to my absence at home," Zi said, adding that many police officers remain on duty during holidays.

A border officer works in Ruili. (HE XINGYU / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Lifelong duty

For some, guarding the border is a lifelong mission.

Yan Cong, a 61-year-old border patrol officer in Mengka town, Ximeng Wa autonomous county, Pu'er city, Yunnan, has refused to retire, saying his life "is edged with boundary stones".

He began patrolling the Myanmar border with his father and grandfather when he was 5. Years ago, there were no paved roads between boundary stone markers, only forests, cliffs and dense, thorny undergrowth.

Yan was once beaten badly by illegal immigrants, but he remains undeterred. "I need to safeguard our territory," he said, adding that his father told him that guarding the border is "a good thing that should be passed down from generation to generation".

He likes to guide young officers in repeatedly walking the 7.9 km of border roads in the area. A provincial intangible cultural heritage inheritor, Yan can play 30 musical instruments popular among the Wa ethnic group. He often sings songs and plays music when patrol officers take a break.

Humans are not the only ones working hard. At Manchang village in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, Yunnan, a dog and two geese are playing their part in pandemic control by barking or cackling every time they encounter a stranger.

The border with Myanmar at Menghai stretches for about 146 km, with Daluo Port, located 86 km from Myanmar and 240 km from Thailand offering a land route from China to the two countries.


After COVID-19 spread worldwide, the number of people entering China through the port surged, posing a significant challenge to controlling the outbreak.

Villager Yan Wenjiao said that as dogs are particularly sensitive to smell, and geese to sound, they can make a lot of noise at night to signal the alarm.

"Geese are fearless, have high awareness of guarding their territory, and are aggressive. They can help deter illegal immigrants and even scare away snakes," he said.

Police officer Li Haizhen said the Daluo immigration inspection station, where he is based bought a dog from a villager several months ago. "It remains alert even when it's sleeping, as its ear pick up any kind of sound. In addition, it is a good companion and gives us a lot of fun," he added.

Ming Qingzhong, director of Yunnan University of Finance and Economics' tourism and cultural industry research institute, said border areas are key to safeguarding national safety and stability. In addition to military security, safeguarding the border includes cracking down on illegal immigration and emigration, smuggling, extreme nationalism and terrorism, Ming said.

It is also easier to discover and control imported COVID-19 cases by using airplanes, and attention should also be paid to cases imported through land ports, Ming added.

Long borders and complex natural terrain pose great challenges. Frequent human exchanges and a lack of sophisticated equipment also add to the pressure. Ming said.

In view of this, it is insufficient to rely solely on the police. Establishing an intelligent safety management system by using wireless sensors, drones, artificial intelligence, biological information recognition and real-time positioning, as well as increasing international cooperation on border management, should provide good solutions, he added.

Contact the writers at chenmeiling@chinadaily.com.cn


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