Under a new cross-border cargo policy to control the spread of the coronavirus, Chinese border authorities are not letting cargo trucks from Myanmar pass through a key entry point into China from northern Myanmar’s Kachin state.
The 300 trucks that transport bananas and watermelons to China each day via a border crossing in the Myanmar town of Lweje near Longchuan County in southwest China’s Yunnan province were not permitted to enter China on Monday, drivers said.
According to rfa.org, Chinese authorities have restricted their drivers from entering Myanmar and since April 1 have required Myanmar traders in abutting northern Shan state to pay Chinese drivers 10 yuan each (U.S. $1.40) to transport truckloads of rice and fruit from border crossings to local cargo facilities, RFA reported on April 10.
Now, truck drivers say, China’s policy of handing over their vehicle keys to Chinese drivers is being enforced at border crossings in Kachin state. China have refused to let Myanmar drivers pass through entry points in Kachin state since Myanmar announced its first confirmed case of the coronavirus on March 23, but neither side closed the border crossings when the virus began to spread in China.
