BEIJING — The Chinese military is conducting armed patrols near the border with Myanmar this week as the government is concerned about the potential consequences of heavy fighting and civil war on the other side.

Troops were deployed to southwest China’s Yunnan province on Monday to test their ability to maintain security in border areas, the military’s Southern Theater Command said.

An alliance of ethnic militias has inflicted a series of setbacks on Myanmar’s military in the northeast of the country, which borders China. On the Chinese side, five people were injured by a stray artillery shell in January.

From Tuesday to Thursday, live-fire exercises will be held at four locations, including two in the city of Ruili, the Yunnan government said.

The units will conduct armed patrols and joint air-ground patrols to test their ability to rapidly mobilize, block and control, and strike together, the Southern Command said in a statement.

Already in November, the military had conducted shooting exercises with live ammunition near the border with Myanmar.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said earlier this month, according to Chinese state media, that his country was “against chaos and war in Myanmar.”

In January, Beijing helped broker a ceasefire, but it failed in June when a member of the Three Brothers Alliance launched new attacks.

Major General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the military government, recently claimed that foreign support was being provided to the ethnic militias, a likely reference to China, which has long had ties to the groups.

Wang, who was on a visit to Myanmar, told Min Aung Hlaing that China opposed the attacks in Shan state, Myanmar state television reported.

China’s top diplomat also expressed the hope that Myanmar would “effectively ensure the safety of Chinese personnel and Chinese projects in the country.”

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar this month urged citizens of Shan State to strengthen their security measures, stay away from conflict areas or return to China.