China puts Wanding region under lockdown but trade is normal

Due to the detection of COVID-19 in China’s Wanding region, a 5-day lockdown has been imposed, but border trade is still moving normally, border traders said.
Wanding-Kyinsankyawt Road is the main route of China-Myanmar border trade, with around 100 trucks entering and leaving every day.
According to market reports, traders are worried that the border trade will be affected due to the imposition of lockdown and the worsening of the COVID-19 situation on the Wanding side.
They will start exporting watermelons from Myanmar in the near future, and they are monitoring the policy of China, according to market reports.
“Wanding lockdown and trading are normal. There is normal export and import trading,” a person based at the border wrote on social media.
China has eased the lockdown in its an area, but due to the detection of COVID-19 in Wanding, which trades mainly with Myanmar, the Chinese government has imposed a five-day lockdown, according to border businesses.
Lockdown has been imposed only in the Wanding area, but the trade with Myanmar has not been stopped and trade is still going on, said the residents.
According to an official in the border region, China’s Yunnan province is also not allowed to import as many goods as it wants from the Myanmar side, so the demand is increasing, and Chinese businessmen are worried about a trade ban like in 2021.
Businesses are worried that if the spread of COVID-19 at the border increases, the border trade will be tightened, and they say that they do not want to become a situation where the drivers are replaced and the trucks are stuck for China.
For the current China-Myanmar border trade, the Wanding-Kyinsankyawt Road is the main trade route, and the Myanmar side mainly exports agricultural produces.—TPT/GNLM