Chinese authorities take a leaf from the Trump playbook and ‘build the wall’ as part of Covid-19 curbs
- The authorities in the southwestern province of Yunnan have been coordinating efforts to build new barriers along the frontier with Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos
- As well as putting up new fences, a network of surveillance cameras and vigilante patrols are being used to stop illegal crossings
The Chinese authorities have started building a wall along the country’s porous southwestern borders that have long been an easy conduit for drug smugglers and human traffickers.
It may not stand comparison with the Great Wall or Donald Trump’s promised wall on the US-Mexican border – but the relative ease of crossing between Yunnan province and its neighbours Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos became a major headache for the authorities when Covid-19 emerged last year.
China has been hit by a number of infections caused by the Delta variant in recent months and Yunnan, which shares a long border with Myanmar, has seen a steady trickle of imported cases.
Myanmar, which is in the middle of a new wave of infections, reported 80 Covid-related deaths and more than 5,000 new cases on Monday.
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Chinese city on Myanmar border in Covid-19 lockdown amid fears of the spread of Delta variant
All of these spikes were linked to imported cases, many of which bore a strong resemblance to the Delta variant, according to gene sequencing.