A Japanese daily says China is boosting the mobility of its troops stationed near its border with North Korea in preparation for possible contingencies in the North.

In a special report on Sunday, the Asahi Shimbun quoted a Chinese military official as saying that the Chinese military is raising its mobility so that it can enter Pyongyang within two hours in case of an emergency in the North.

The daily added that the Academy of Military Science, a think tank of the People's Liberation Army, has been operating a crisis management team on the Korean Peninsula since 2007, when rumors of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s health problem began to emerge.

The Asahi Shimbun said the think tank also drew up a secret report in 2010. The report called for China to place top priority on preventing nuclear proliferation in the event major changes occur within the North, as the North’s nuclear weapons development could lead to a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula.