Myanmar police and immigration officers are forbidding young men of conscription age from crossing the border into China at the Muse border crossing in Shan State.
Since 12 February 2025, the junta-appointed border authorities have banned men aged 18 to 35 and women under 27 from crossing at the Nandaw and Sin Phyu border gates on the China-Myanmar border in Muse Town.
Normally, Muse residents can get red border pass books issued by the Ministry of Immigration and Population that allow them to travel into China and are valid for a year. People from elsewhere and people who cannot get a red border book have to cross to China using a temporary border pass (TBP) which is only valid for a week and also known as a green book. It is only valid for a single entry into China that does not exceed the week for which the TBP is valid.
A young Muse Township resident said to Shan Herald: "The immigration and police officers at Nandaw and Sin Phyu gates are no longer allowing young red book border pass holders to cross. Not only that, but the Chinese police on the other side are also preventing crossings. In emergency cases, they will only be allowed to cross if they can present a document [to Myanmar immigration], such as a recommendation or permit, from the ward administrators
He added that even in cases where travel to China is necessary, such as for health reasons, the Myanmar immigration officers will only allow people to cross if they have a permit issued by junta-appointed officials, such as ward administrators, confirming they are not subject to conscription.
According to some Muse Town residents, the junta and Chinese border authorities may have come to an agreement that the Chinese will also forbid any Myanmar citizens of conscription age from crossing into China.
Even young people of conscription age who have had work in China arranged and confirmed for them by agents are being prevented from crossing the border at Muse by the junta immigration authorities.
4,000 Myanmar citizens who had been employed in China’s Yunnan Province using guarantees from employment agencies were also forced to return to Myanmar. All had crossed into China since 2024 using TPBs and overstayed in China beyond the seven day validity period of their Myanmar issued TBPs.
The TBP is not issued or officially recognised by the Chinese authorities and under normal circumstances the workers would have been allowed to stay and work, irrespective of whether their Myanmar issued border passes were valid. But now, under probable pressure from the junta, the Chinese have expelled all Myanmar workers who do not have the necessary paperwork from the junta allowing them to work in China.
Since the junta tightened restrictions on men of conscription age traveling abroad to work on 31 January 2025, checks at the Shan State border gates to China in Muse Town and to Thailand in Tachileik Town have become more stringent, according to overseas employment agencies.
