China is conducting military patrols near the Myanmar border as civil war rages on the other side

BEIJING (AP) — China’s military is carrying out armed patrols near the Myanmar border this week, where the government is concerned about potential fallout from fierce fighting in a civil war on the other side. The military’s Southern Theater Command said troops were deployed to Yunnan province in southwestern China on Monday to test their ability to maintain security in border areas. An alliance of ethnic militias has dealt a series of setbacks to Myanmar’s military in the country’s northeast near China. Five people were injured on the Chinese side in January by a stray artillery shell.