Sébastien Le Belzic, edited by Solène Delinger 06:34, February 09, 2022

China has undertaken the construction of a wall of nearly 5,000 kilometers, on its southern border, to officially protect itself from the Covid-19 pandemic.

In fact, this wall must isolate the country from neighboring Burma, and therefore from the influx of refugees, one year after the army's military coup.

Is China just trying to protect itself from Covid-19 by building a gigantic wall on its border?

Officially, yes.

But, in fact, the country is above all seeking to put an end to the influx of refugees from neighboring Burma, a year after the military coup by the Burmese army. 

>> Find the morning of the day in replay and podcast here

A barrier three meters high

China already had its Great Wall, built from the third century BC and which was to protect it from barbarian invasions.

It now has its giant wall to protect it from epidemics: a three-meter high barrier, equipped with surveillance cameras and covered with barbed wire, under construction on the border with Burma.

Controlling a porous border

The wall should extend over more than 2,000 kilometers, thus covering the entire border area between the two countries.

China is talking about a security wall to fight against Covid-19 and prevent contamination from abroad.

But this wall must also be used by China to control this porous border through which refugees pass, but also a large part of the drug traffic from the Golden Triangle.

On the Burmese side, the area is controlled by mafia groups and has many underground casinos that attract players from all over China.

A buffer zone that could make small to the north, on the border with Russia, and to the south, on the Vietnamese border, where a wall of almost five meters is already under construction.