PLA soldier goes missing during training exercises on China-Vietnam border
Armed fighter last seen during a training exercise held in Yunnan last week
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 22 April, 2014, 10:21pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 22 April, 2014, 10:27pm
Minnie Chan [email protected]
Chen Xin was last seen during a field training exercise last Tuesday. Photo: SCMP Pictures
An armed People’s Liberation Army soldier stationed on the border between Yunnan province and Vietnam has been missing since last week, Chinese military reports said on Tuesday.
Chen Xin was last seen during a field training exercise last Tuesday, according to a notice posted by the military in the area. Chen, aged 22, comes from Bazhong in Sichuan province, and was carrying a weapon when he disappeared, but it was not clear if he was carrying live ammunition
A 100,000 yuan (HK$120,000) reward has been offered to help trace him, an official at the Hekou county government said.
The border training exercise was conductedin Laoka district, about one-kilometre from the border with Vietnam.
Another notice from the military said Chen had been wearing the PLA’s summer battle fatigues when he went missing during the exercises last week.
“Two notices have now been posted online. As far as I know, the border garrison so far hasn’t had any word about the whereabouts of their missing solider,” the official said.
“The incident so far hasn’t had any influence on villagers because the barracks are close to the Vietnam border, but far away from county towns.”
A message posted on social media quoted an unnamed source as saying that Chen had not gone missing during a training exercise, but had left his sentry duty with a gun.
The South China Morning Post was unable to make contact with media spokesmen at the Ministry of Defence.
The Hekou county government official said there had been no concerns about security among people in the area after the soldier had gone missing with his weapon.
