Dandong, the largest Chinese city to border the DPRK, cautiously reopened its economy this month as Liaoning Province reported near-zero cases of the coronavirus.

While the North Korean land border remains on soft shutdown due to quarantine measures, Dandong’s return to business-as-usual could facilitate DPRK confidence in opening the border to trade and much-needed aid shipments.

The lifting of restrictions comes at a time when Liaoning provincial authorities are on high alert against imported cases from nearby Heilongjiang and amid rumors of Chinese forces mobilizing to the Dandong border area.

The Liaoning Health Commission has reported only one asymptomatic case of COVID-19 in the province over the past twelve days, while the official number of 146 “confirmed” cases and two deaths has remained steady since mid-April.

According to the last update by the city on April 2, when the province’s confirmed case count was 141, Dandong has had 11 cases in total since the beginning of the pandemic.

Chinese health authorities did not begin including asymptomatic patients in their case count until April 1 and the government has been widely accused of underreporting numbers.

Still, the relatively low number of cases and infrequency of new ones seems to have given Dandong municipal authorities enough confidence to launch the “Three Measures” campaign on April 9, signaling a re-opening of the border city’s economy.

The campaign is intended to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in re-opening, and includes measures to simplify the sanitation permit process and coordination with banks in assisting cash-strapped businesses.

“Sanitation permits for over 20 public places such as shopping malls… entertainment complexes and movie theaters have been processed,” says the provincial news bulletin. “The city’s service industry will open as soon as possible.”

Scenes of “normal” life in Dandong taken for NK News last week and Jeremy Koh of Channel News Asia this week show residents strolling along the waterfront, enough cars and buses to constitute light traffic, and groups at crosswalks with plastic shopping bags.

The videos, along with an analysis of Chinese social media performed by NK News, seem to disprove recent online rumors of Chinese troops and armored vehicles heading for the China-DPRK border via Dandong.

The city seems peaceful yet lively, despite provincial concerns that a fresh outbreak in nearby Heilongjiang might import cases — a woman was diagnosed in Fushun City on April 16 after traveling from Harbin.

Dandong is a vital node for trade and aid into the DPRK via its port and land bridges that connect to its sister city of Sinuiju.

As reported by NK Pro recently, progress on the New Yalu River Bridge continues on the North Korean side, with new asphalt paving and development of a large customs complex area outside of Sinuiju.

Limited amounts of goods have been noted moving overland and by seaport from Dandong in the DPRK — as observed and sourced by NK News, trucks have been making rare trips across the Sino-North Korean Friendship Bridge.

And amid quarantine restrictions delaying logistics worldwide, international aid shipments such as those from Doctors without Borders have arrived at Dandong Port for onward shipment to the DPRK.

South Korea’s Daily NK had observed on April 6 the restart of limited Dandong-Sinuiju trade, following a total border shut-down that began in late January.

Edited by Oliver Hotham and James Fretwell