China increases subsidies for residents near Indian border in Tibet

In the past five years, the subsidies the government offered to the border residents have been rising

China has substantially increased subsidies to the people living in the border areas along the India-China border in Tibet to motivate them to manage and control the border, a media report said today.

The subsidy for each resident above 16 years old in first-tier border towns has been increased from 1,000 yuan ($155) in 2012 to 2,700 yuan ($415) in 2017, and from 800 yuan ($123) to 2,500 yuan in second-tier towns, state- run Global Times reported.

In the past five years, the subsidies the government offered to the border residents has been rising, covering 160,000 people, Jiang Guojie, deputy head of the regional finance department, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The report said around 1.2 billion yuan ($185 million) was transferred to the border areas of Tibet in 2016 to increase the income of border residents, improve their living and working conditions and motivate them to manage and control the border.

Six billion yuan has been pooled to support the economic and social development of the border areas.

Tibet is the first provincial-level region in China to create a border subsidy system, the report said.