Over 10,000 Chinese illegally staying in Myanmar Now Being Thrown Out
Due to a turbulent political situation combined with worsening coronavirus infection, over 10,000 Chinese nationals who were staying illegally in Myanmar have now been identified and are waiting at Ruili, a China-Myanmar border city to exfiltrate and return to China. This is putting great pressure on the Chinese border city of Ruili as it struggles to fight imported COVID-19 cases.
The flow out of Chinese nationals, who have been declared as illegal migrants have to turn themselves in to the authorities. After checks they have to wait to cross the border into China. This has started since June, after the Myanmar government started to require Chinese nationals staying in northern Myanmar to register their identities.
Another employee from Ruili customs authorities has confirmed that there are roughly 10,000 Chinese nationals waiting at the border, but their repatriation is being delayed due to strict regulations.
Only about one hundred people are allowed to cross the border to Ruili each day. The Chinese authorities then immediately conduct a nucleic acid test, and any positive case is sent to a treatment facility; negative ones to quarantine.
Myanmar government department said that due to such large presence of illegal migrants there was unstable political situation, and worsening coronavirus infection. Thus the government’s new regulation of requiring Chinese in Myanmar to register their identity has been enforced. However a large number of Chinese people have now chosen to go back to China through Ruili, a China-Myanmar land border port.
In a move to crack down on cross-border crimes such as telecommunications fraud, several cities in multiple provinces, have been issued notices for Chinese nationals with exit/entry documents issued by China to register their identity by a certain deadline.
Myanmar government said people who turn themselves in will be dealt with lenience.
Now It is The turn of China To face the music. “Those people have put great pressure on Ruili’s pandemic-control work, now the city is facing risks of imported and domestic infection, plus it shoulders responsibility of quarantine management,” said the customs official, noting that medical resources are strained.
Ruili has experienced several waves of COVID-19 flare-ups, which propelled the city to strengthen controls over its border with Myanmar. Yunan reported 14 imported cases and four silent carriers of coronavirus on Saturday. They are all Chinese nationals who previously illegally went to Myanmar and decided to turn themselves in to the Myanmar government.
