China passed a new law on Saturday, the first in the country's modern history to deal explicitly with how it patrols its massive 22,100-kilometer (13,700-mile) land border with 14 other countries.

The Land Borders Law, which will go into effect on January 1, comes at a time when China is concerned with security on its frontier with Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, COVID-19 entering the country via illegal border crossings from its southeast Asian neighbors and a tense standoff with India over their mutual border that has seen deadly skirmishes in the past year.

According to the text of the law, China's People's Liberation Army will be allowed to counter any "invasion, encroachment, infiltration, [or] provocation" that occurs on any of the country's borders and provides a legal framework for hard border closures if Beijing sees fit.

China passed a new law on Saturday, the first in the country's modern history to deal explicitly with how it patrols its massive 22,100-kilometer (13,700-mile) land border with 14 other countries.

The Land Borders Law, which will go into effect on January 1, comes at a time when China is concerned with security on its frontier with Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, COVID-19 entering the country via illegal border crossings from its southeast Asian neighbors and a tense standoff with India over their mutual border that has seen deadly skirmishes in the past year.

According to the text of the law, China's People's Liberation Army will be allowed to counter any "invasion, encroachment, infiltration, [or] provocation" that occurs on any of the country's borders and provides a legal framework for hard border closures if Beijing sees fit.