China sends troops to border with conflict-torn Myanmar: Media

BEIJING (REUTERS) - China has sent soldiers to its border with Myanmar amid concern that escalating violence between the Southeast Asian country's government and ethnic separatists is spilling over, an official Chinese newspaper reported on Friday.

The Global Times said that troops were sent to the border between China's Yunnan Province and Myanmar's northern Kachin State "to understand the situation". It did not give any details on the number or type of soldiers.

"On the night of the 9th, there was shelling in Kachin, and residents of the unstable area quickly ran inside the Chinese border to pass the night in peace," the report said. Yunnan is home to an ethnic Kachin population.

The Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily, carried an article on its website from the Changjiang Daily newspaper describing artillery shells exploding on a mountain in Yingjiang County, which borders Myanmar.