Chinese in border city of Dandong say they have been discouraged from interacting with North Koreans
China has ramped up security along its border with North Korea, installing new surveillance cameras, deploying extra security forces and operating radiation detectors as it braces for a potential crisis.
Bellicose rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang has raised fears in China of a conflict that could send millions of North Korean refugees across the 1,420km (882 mile) border, and of nuclear fallout that could hit Chinese towns.
While authorities have been coy about preparations, residents have seen an increase in patrols along the frontier.
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Radiation monitors are running in border towns, and locals said interactions with North Koreans had been discouraged.
A red banner tacked to a border fence in Dandong – a major trading hub separated from North Korea by the Yalu River – has a cold war-like message to residents: “Citizens or organisations who see spying activities must immediately report them to national security organs”.
Outside Dandong, new checkpoints dot the road running along the Yalu. Locals said they were installed in October.
“Before, the North Koreans came to our side to fish. Now they don’t dare,” said Zhang Fuquan at his fish farm on the Chinese side of the river.
“The army patrols and watches.”
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At the massive Supung hydroelectric dam, which provides power to both China and North Korea, surveillance cameras monitor the Yalu.
“The border is tightly controlled now,” said 75-year-old retiree Yin Guoxie, who spent a lifetime working at the dam.
Regular North Koreans were not allowed to have boats, which minimised the number who tried to cross, he said.
