China has denied widespread media reports in the west that the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) has sent 150,000 more men to reinforce the army groups currently stationed along its northeastern border with North Korea, ostensibly for an invasion.
It did confirm, however, the PLAGF and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), or the combined armed forces, as a whole have been placed on alert along the Yalu and Tumen rivers that mark the boundary with North Korea due to the tense situation in the Korean Peninsula. The PLA was placed on heightened alert on April 7.
China's Ministry of National Defense said those reports are "fabricated" but without explaining why. Instead, the ministry reiterated its stand that all parties involved in the crisis (China included) should work together to return to negotiations aimed at resolving nuclear issues at an early date.
The PLAGF troop build-up was widely reported in western media with the reasons for it ranging from China preparing to launch a punitive strike against North Korea's nuclear weapons facilities (which are located close to its border with North Korea) to the build-up being made in anticipation of a refugee crisis in the event of a U.S. airstrike on those nuclear plants.
State-run Chinese media, including the Global Times, said the deployment of the troops to the Chinese provinces of Liaoning and Jilin bordering North Korea was made ahead of persistent reports North Korea plans to explode its sixth nuclear bomb on or before April 15, the 105th birthday of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung.
Kim also and ignited the Korean War on June 25, 1950 in an attempt to subjugate South Korea and bring the entire Korean peninsula his rule. China fought alongside North Korea against a coalition of 16 nations led by the U.S. that fought under the United Nations Command.
Global Times only a few days ago published an editorial defining China's reasons for invading North Korea. It said the threat of a "nuclear leakage or pollution" that damages the environment of northeast China (which shares a border with North Korea) will trigger a response from China.
"This is the bottom line of China, which means China will never allow such situation to happen. If the bottom line is touched, China will employ all means available including the military means to strike back," said the editorial.
The northeastern Chinese provinces of Liaoning and Jilin share borders with North Korea. These two provinces and Heilongjiang are part of the Northern Theater Command, one of five new war zones of the People's Liberation Army.