Footage trending on China's social media websites this week appeared to capture the moment an errant artillery shell exploded in a Chinese town amid intense fighting on the other side of the country's southern border.
Five individuals in Nansan, a commuter town in the southwestern province of Yunnan near Myanmar, were wounded on Wednesday when the live ordnance—fired as part of a monthslong conflict between Myanmar's military junta and rebel forces—landed on the Chinese side, state media said.
On Weibo, the country's X-like microblogging app, a CCTV video showed a sidewalk exploding from the impact behind a row of trees and near parked cars. In other clips, local residents were seen tending to the wounded and surveying debris in the area.
All five victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment, according to the state-backed Global Times newspaper, citing officials in Zhenkang county, which administers the town. Their conditions were not disclosed.
Newsweek was not able to independently verify the viral images, and it was unclear which army fired the shells.
The incident sparked a strong protest on Thursday from China's government, which called for an immediate ceasefire and for its citizens to be protected from the firefight.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Beijing "strongly deplores the Chinese casualties caused by the conflict and has already lodged serious representations with the relevant parties."
He urged all involved to implement measures to prevent further incidents.
Beijing last month announced that it had been mediating of a pause in fighting between Myanmar's government and armed ethnic minority groups in northern Shan State.
China has been caught in a complex civil conflict and is believed to have backed certain rebel factions in an effort to crack down on illegal gambling operations run from inside Myanmar.
But that strategy appeared to backfire as fighting between the military junta and self-proclaimed insurgents, who are collectively resisting the 2021 ousting of Myanmar's democratically elected government under Aung San Suu Kyi, escalated in October and this week spilled into China.
Despite the Beijing-led peace talks, which have been acknowledged on paper by both sides, rebel forces have not stopped fighting and, in certain cases, have routed government troops to capture strategic towns and outposts.
Wang, the spokesperson, said China was committed to the safety of its citizens and that the government would take "all necessary steps" to safeguard lives and property. He did not elaborate.
Last week, the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar advised its nationals in Laukkai, bordering Yunnan, to evacuate due to escalating security risks. In 2009, similar violent clashes drove tens of thousands of people to seek refuge across the border in China.
The United Nations says the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is severe. It estimated in December that more than 660,000 people had been displaced since fighting intensified in October, bringing the total displaced individuals to 2.6 million nationwide, a record high in the country's turbulent history.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aadil Brar is a reporter for Newsweek based in Taipei, Taiwan. He covers international security, U.S.-China relations, and East Asian ... Read more
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