China digs shelters, strengthens border security with North Korea

China is reportedly beefing up its defenses along its shared border with North Korea as tensions on the Korean peninsula continue to escalate.

Measures taken by Beijing to strengthen security along the China-North Korea border (which stretches more than 1,400km) include establishing a new brigade and building shelters for civilians, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Illustration: Express

Since Pyongyang's first nuclear test in 2006, China has taken a number of measures to strengthen its border defenses, such as building a fence along the border and increasing patrols.

In addition, Beijing is also reorganizing military forces in the northeast of the country, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing information from Chinese military and government websites as well as Chinese and foreign experts.

The Chinese government has repeatedly stated that there can be no military solution to the North Korean problem.

On July 24, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told reporters that he could not answer a hypothetical question about what the Chinese military would do in the event of a clash on the Korean Peninsula.

China has long been concerned about its porous borders and the potential for war or unrest to spill over into China, so it has been beefing up its border defenses in complex areas such as those with Central Asian countries./.

According to Vietnamnet