China has reportedly refuted reports, which claim that the country has drawn up contingency plans for the collapse of the communist regime in North Korea.
Leaked documents have revealed that the contingency plans were drawn up by China's People's Liberation Army, visioning refugee camps on the China-North Korea border and detaining important North Korean leaders in special camps where they would be kept under constant surveillance.
As reported by Kyodo news agency and according to The Guardian, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) devised the measures last summer, but experts said they did not signal that Beijing was losing faith in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Deeming reports of alleged contingency plans as "groundless," a foreign ministry spokesperson said that the report made wild guesses, and was groundless and with ulterior motives," adding that China's stance was clear.
John Delury, a North Korea analyst at Yonsei University in Seoul said that while there was no evidence that the Chinese military officials had leaked the story to highlight China's annoyance with North Korea, he said that he did not believe China's denials.
He added that the PLA is doing what militaries do - they draw up contingencies, but they shouldn't draw too many conclusions from this, the report added.
