![]() Nowhere is the impact of the strategy more obvious than in Ruili. One of the key planks of China’s Covid Zero policy, which views even a single infection as an unacceptable risk, is the closure of the country’s borders, sealing it off from a world that has overwhelmingly decided to live with the coronavirus. That traffic has come to an almost complete halt. For decades, throngs of people crossed every day: Burmese workers looking for factory jobs, Chinese residents visiting relatives, and traders of both nationalities carrying a huge range of goods, some legal, some not. ![]() Together they constitute a binational urban area-an analog to El Paso and Juárez on the US-Mexico boundary-and a crucial node for commerce. The city hugs the border, which divides it from Muse, a smaller city on the Myanmar side. Ruili, a Chinese city of a little more than a quarter-million people located on one of the only areas of flat land, is the exception. The region has never been an economic development priority for either country, and it has few roads and even fewer large settlements. Mountains rise as high as 19,000 feet above sea level, fast-running rivers flow between steep cliffs, and dense forests shelter giant hornbills, snub-nosed monkeys, and elephants. China’s 1,300-mile border with Myanmar traverses some of the most rugged landscapes in Asia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |