FILE: Yunnan Province, southwest China - Date Unknown
++MUTE++
1. Various of soldiers climbing mountain
2. Soldier detecting mine
3. Mines
4. Various of soldier holding mine

Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Dec 9, 2016
5. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhou Wenchun, commander of demining mission in Yunnan (partially overlaid with shots 6):
"I believe that for ordinary people, including ourselves, when they think of whether all the mines have been cleared, a question mark would emerge in their minds; and whether it is safe. To help get rid of their question marks from the minds of those who live along the border areas, we soldiers have walked, hand in hand, through the minefield at the risk of lives, just to prove to them that the area has been cleared of all mines and it is safe to live here from then on."

++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
6. Various of soldiers walking shoulder by shoulder while holding hands
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

FILE: Yunnan Province, southwest China - Date Unknown
++MUTE++
7. Various of soldier in demining mission
8. Mine exploding

China has completed its mine-clearance in the Red River area on Friday, marking a key step toward the successful completion of the demining mission along the China-Vietnam borders.

Launched along the southwestern borders in southwest China's Yunnan Province and south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the entire mission was approved in early September last year, while the operation in Yunnan started two months later.

The team includes experienced soldiers from the armed forces, and some joined demining operations as part of the UN peacekeeping missions before.

"I believe that for ordinary people, including ourselves, when they think of whether all the mines have been cleared, a question mark would emerge in their minds; and whether it is safe. To help get rid of their question marks from the minds of those who live along the border areas, we soldiers have walked, hand in hand, through the minefield at the risk of lives, just to prove to them that the area has been cleared of all mines and it is safe to live here from then on," said Zhou Wenchun, commander of demining mission in Yunnan.

The demining mission in the Red River autonomous prefecture has come to a successful end after eight months of arduous operations. The soldiers cleared 18 minefields covering an area of 4.436 square kilometers in the Red River section along China-Vietnam borders.