China's state broadcaster CCTV on March 31, 2015, reported that the PLA's 14th Army Corps recently began a large-scale military exercise in the western region of southwest China's Yunnan province, near the China-Myanmar border. The exercise comes amid increasing tensions between the two countries due to the escalating violence between the Myanmar government and ethnic rebel forces, which has already spilled into China after a stray shell flattened a house and a wayward bomb killed four Yunnan farmers earlier this month. China's Sina Military believes that with the exercise Beijing is sending a message to Naypyidaw while it is simultaneously tightening border restrictions and placing artillery units and air defense troops on standby.