Over 60,000 Myanmar refugee arrivals in China since conflict outbreak

A Chinese city bordering Myanmar has seen more than 60,000 arrivals of refugees since the outbreak of conflicts in the north of the southeast Asian nation, the Party chief of southwest China's Yunnan Province said Saturday.

In a humanitarian spirit, China has provided the Myanmar refugees with some relief, including water and medical services, in Lincang, a city bordering Myanmar, said Li Jiheng, secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Strict border management measures have been carried out in Lincang but the border was not closed, Li told journalists after a panel discussion with other Yunnan lawmakers at the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

"The border area in Yunnan is stable, the supplies are ample and the price is stable," he said. "The traffic is smooth."

Chinese Foreign Ministry has said that the ongoing Kokang conflict in northern Myanmar is an internal affair of the country without any intervention by China. No evidence has pointed to any involvement by the Chinese government in the conflict.

Li said that China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors and the Chinese side always respects Myanmar's sovereignty and territorial integrity.