Not a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty

Mine clearance resumed in November 2015 according to media reports.

Contamination

The extent of contamination in the People’s Republic of China is not known.

In the 1990s, the United States (US) reported that China had emplaced mines along its borders with India, the Russian Federation, and Vietnam.[1] China’s military estimated that around two million mines of a wide variety of types were emplaced on the Vietnam border alone.[2] China conducted clearance operations along its border with Vietnam between 1992 and 1999[3] and between 2005 and 2009.[4]

In 2009, China said it had completed demining along the Yunnan section of its border with Vietnam and that this “represents the completion of mine clearance of mine-affected areas within China’s territory.”[5] However, in November 2015, the media reported that mine clearance in Yunnan had resumed.[6] Casualties from landmines have continued to be reported in parts of Yunnan bordering Vietnam where some areas were still marked as mine-affected and press reports said one or two people were injured in this region every year.[7]

Moreover, in September 2011 a Foreign Ministry official reported to Landmine Monitor that China maintains a small number of minefields “for national defence.”[8] Two months later, at the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, China said large-scale demining activities had “on the whole eliminated the scourge of landmines in our territories.”[9] At the Maputo Review Conference in 2014, China said it had “basically eradicated landmines on its own territory.”[10] China has not reported on mine contamination along its borders with Russia and India or on operations to clear them.

Program Management

There is no formal mine action program in China. Any mine clearance is conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as a military activity.

Land Release

Demining of the Vietnam border was conducted in three “campaigns” in Yunnan province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The first was in 1992–1994 and the second in 1997–1999. Press reports cited claims by the Chinese military that this second clearance operation was the largest in world military history.[11]

However, these two campaigns did not deal with minefields located in disputed areas of the border, where 500,000 mines covered an estimated 40km². After a technical survey of mined areas, China embarked on a third clearance campaign in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Yunnan province in 2005. China stated in 2009 that it had completed clearance of this border after clearing a total of 5.15km².[12]

However, according to media reports, the third clearance campaign in Guangxi Zhuang region, along Yunnan’s border with Vietnam, resumed in early November 2015 and is scheduled to be completed before 2017. The campaign covers 53 minefields, containing an estimated 470,000 mines, over 50km. It covers eight cities and counties spread across Wenshan and Honghe prefectures, and is said to affect 50,000 people. The clearance is being conducted by 400 soldiers from the PLA. Progress is anticipated to be slow, as many areas are hilly and forested, while others are overgrown fields.[13]