People from both China and Burma crossing the border between China's Yunnan province and Northern Burma are being thoroughly checked by Chinese border authorities in the run up to the Beijing Olympic Games on August 8, said border sources.
People on the border said, people are having their National Registration Cards (NRCs), personal belongings such as laptops, cameras and clothes checked. Lots of questions are being asked by the Chinese border authorities since the Tibet movement in Yunnan in March.
Especially owners of laptops and digital cameras are being asked lots of questions like "why are these devices being used?" by Chinese authorities at checkpoints, a resident of Laiza on the border told KNG.
The number of Chinese immigration and military staff members at border checkpoints along Sino-Burma border also increased from four to six, an eyewitness who recently crossed Nong Dao checkpoint near Ruili (Shweli), told KNG today.
According to border traders, people who are crossing the main border checkpoints like Pang Wah, Kambaiti, Laiza, Mai Ja Yang and Nong Dao, and other small checkpoints bordering Kachin State on the Chinese side are being thoroughly checked by Chinese authorities.
Sources close to Chinese checkpoint staff said, the Chinese government wants to prevent any kind of Tibetan political movement in Yunnan province before and during the Beijing Olympic Games which will be held from August 8 to 24.
On March 30, two Tibetan activists were arrested and deported to China by the ethnic Kachin Independent Organization (KIO), who signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese ruling junta, on China's insistence.
Meanwhile, six Chinese were sentenced to five-year prison terms in Bhamo for illegally crossing the border in keeping with Burma's immigration laws (La-Wa-Ka) on July 12 by the junta, a source said.
The source said, the six Chinese were arrested together in Man Win Gyi in Manje Township close to the border on July 9 along with a Jeep loaded illegal teak by Burmese Army Infantry Battalion (Kha-La-Ya) No.15 along with immigration officers, police and forest officials in Manje for illegal teak trade.
However, illegal teak from Bhamo District is still illegally transported to China from Nong Dao gate by bribing Burmese and Chinese border authorities, said a trader in Nong Dao.
