BEIJING - China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Thursday urged Chinese enterprises and citizens in Myanmar to step up security precautions as clashes in northern Myanmar have escalated.

Chinese firms and personnel should avoid traveling to northern Myanmar for investment or other cooperation activities, and those who are already there must be on higher alert, according to an MOC statement.

The safety situation has been grim in northern Myanmar since clashes intensified between government forces and local military groups there, the statement said, quoting an unnamed MOC official.

Official media in Myanmar have reported a series of attacks and railway mine blasts by the ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in northern Myanmar in the past week.