Border patrol offices rise to COVID challenge

Traffic inspections

Along the 12-km-long Ruili River, which forms part of the border between China and Myanmar, officers from the task force at Ruili police station prevent people stowing away on vessels, including kayaks and rafts. In addition to patrolling the river, they inspect road traffic.

Wang Youyu, head of the team, said: "Since September last year, our team members have worn protective clothing each day to transfer illegal immigrants, other criminal suspects and those who surrender to police. We also have eight ambulances on the roads.

"Sometimes, the officers don't have time for dinner and they work until midnight, while in summer, they are soaked in sweat."

The officers mainly eat instant noodles and sleep in tents, enabling them to act immediately a suspicious incident is reported along the river. They don't have clean drinking water, electricity or internet access, Wang said.

To date, the team has seized 47 vessels operating illegally, 40 illegal immigrants and turned back 35 people trying to enter China unlawfully from Myanmar. Since January last year, team members have transferred to China about 13,000 Chinese who entered Myanmar illegally, but turned themselves in to police, as they wanted to escape the virus.

Zhang Juntian, deputy head of the team, said, "We cannot relax for one moment, because there is always hidden danger."

Taking only a few days off when his wife had their baby, Zhang said: "She understands and supports my work. She often says that only when everyone stays on top of their job can Ruili be truly safe."

According to experts, guarding the borders in Southwest China is key to preventing COVID-19 cases, which is vitally important nationwide and "a bottom line for security" as the nation pursues the goal of zero infections.

Ruan Chengfa, former Party secretary of Yunnan, said the province aims to plug loopholes in illegal immigration and emigration by improving infrastructure, tightening inspections and optimizing community governance.

When night falls, the 160-km border with Myanmar in Ruili is lit for patrol work, and more than 3,500 border workers on are duty in different shifts day and night. In some remote areas, the local power supply bureau has invested more than 3 million yuan ($468,300) to supply electricity.

Thousands of locals have also sacrificed their holidays and family reunions.

Li Ruizhong, an officer with the exit and entry management unit at Tengchong police station, helps foreigners worried about the pandemic, calling them in individually to reassure them and provide self-protection instruction.

When the pandemic emerged, vehicles were barred from the roads in Tengchong and the border points were closed. Li and her colleagues helped more than 800 people from Myanmar return home. She also worked overtime to track outsiders and investigate criminal cases that threatened border security.

However, this work meant she had no time to spend with her daughter.

Li said: "She took the national college entrance examination last year, but when I came home feeling exhausted, she had already fallen asleep. Every time she saw me answering phone calls, she complained that I was not taking good care of the family."

The good news is that her daughter was accepted for university entrance.

Instead of returning home to celebrate the National Day holiday early this month, Zi Xinyun visited a resident surnamed Chen in Leiyun village, Yunnan, on Oct 2 to help dry his rice. Zi and his colleagues routinely patrol the area each day to tell locals about pandemic control measures.

Zi, who works at the Leiyun branch of the Ruili immigration inspection station, said Leiyun is a border village where legal awareness is low and where teenagers sometimes commit criminal offenses. "Our work not only involves guarding the border gate, but also helping local residents," he said.

Zi has not seen his family for three months. He returned to the office at 7 pm one day to make a video call to his wife, in which he noticed candles had been placed on a cake to celebrate his child's second birthday.

"They are kind of getting used to my absence at home," Zi said, adding that many police officers remain on duty during holidays.