China’s northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region would prioritise addressing the “hollowing out” of its border areas amid population concerns that could hinder its economic development and add to security risks.
“Inner Mongolia … has more than 4,000km (2,485 miles) of borderline, shouldering a major political responsibility in safeguarding national security and border peace,” said Wang Lixia, chairman of the autonomous region, according to the Shanghai-based The Paper on Sunday.
“This year, we should especially focus on solving the problem of ‘hollowing out’ of the border areas, adopting a comprehensive approach to attract more people to live and defend the border areas, in order to ensure national unity and border security.”
Wang’s comments at last week’s meeting of the Inner Mongolia delegation during the “two sessions” in Beijing came amid mounting concerns that an exodus of young people is impeding the economic development of the region, which borders Russia and Mongolia, and posing risks to national security.
Feng Jun, deputy director of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission at the municipal committee for Inner Mongolia’s prefecture-level city of Ulanqab, also highlighted the city’s so-called hollowed-out border villages in July.
He said residents in the border areas of the city’s administrative division of Dorbod Banner had dropped by 56 per cent from 2010 to 2022, leaving behind predominantly elderly residents aged over 60.
“Currently, over 90 per cent of the young and middle-aged residents in the border areas have migrated elsewhere for work, resulting in thousands of vacant houses and tens of thousands of acres of unused agricultural land left behind,” Feng said in a post on Ulanqab’s official social media account.
With the substantial departure of young and middle-aged people, many border villages are now primarily populated by elderly residents
He said most of the young people who have left for study or work were disinclined to return to the border regions due to the poor infrastructure and harsh living conditions, raising concerns over the “generational gap” of people guarding the border.
The city of Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia highlighted similar problems in August, with a report from its Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference committee chairman saying the population outflow issue in border areas “cannot be ignored”.
“With the substantial departure of young and middle-aged people, many border villages are now primarily populated by elderly residents, leading to insufficient manpower within the border defence forces and challenges in fulfilling their duties,” Wang Shuguang said.
China’s wants bridgehead to Russia, Mongolia to be exemplar region
China’s wants bridgehead to Russia, Mongolia to be exemplar region
The population loss has also “directly impacted the development of local industries,” Wang added, with the labour shortage impeding the management of agriculture and animal husbandry, while the pursuit of diversified operations also lacks young skilled workers.
In June, the party committee of Inner Mongolia said that “hollowing out” had grown, especially in the region’s border areas, which had impacted its function in securing border security.
“As the ‘northern gate’ of the motherland and the ‘moat’ of the capital, Inner Mongolia bears a weighty responsibility to maintain national security and social stability … Border defences first and foremost require personnel,” said the article published in the Communist Party’s theoretical journal, Qiushi.
The article added that the party committee was crafting policies to boost prosperity and stability in border regions, focusing on improving industry, services and infrastructure to attract residents and strengthen border defences.
