The Chinese government has started building a new military camp in eastern Tibet close to the border with Bhutan.

The military camp.

Construction began at the site near the Indus River in Lodhrak on 8 May. It was originally due to begin in February but was delayed by the coronavirus crisis.

The site under construction is on the way to the South Indus military camp, a resident in the area told Tibet Watch. It is believed the new camp under construction is designed to assist it.

There are also plans to build a larger military camp in the area in 2022. An exile Tibetan source said this border area with Bhutan is important and had some Chinese military presence for a long time.

An increasing amount of Tibet’s borders are being occupied by Chinese military camps or are becoming military villages.

Free Tibet previously reported that the Chinese government opened the 2020 new year with military training exercises in Lhasa and along Tibetan border regions. It deployed some of its latest weapons during the drills, including a tank designed to work at high altitude.

There have also been reports authorities plan to spend around 21 billion yuan on building 624 new “well off” villages and farms on Tibet’s borders, in a possible attempt to make Tibet’s borders more secure and limit the flow of Tibetan’s able to leave the country.