Artillery shells fired from Myanmar into southern China have injured five people and damaged four houses, Chinese officials said today.
The shelling yesterday in an area near the Yunnan province city of Lincang follows several months of fighting between Myanmar government soldiers and ethnic Kokang rebels in Myanmar's northeast near the border. The Lincang government said in a news release that one Chinese national and four Burmese living in the border community were injured.
Chinese officials have complained of several instances of shells and plane strikes hitting on their side of the border.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reiterated China's "strong dissatisfaction" and urged Myanmar to restore stability to the region "as soon as possible."
Myanmar presidential spokesman Ye Htut said he could not confirm the incident, but he told The Associated Press today that China should keep good control of its borders.
"If these countries want to prevent incidents like these, they should beef up border control and not allow rebel groups to operate in these areas," Ye Htut said.
