Building a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation
National security is the foundation of national rejuvenation, while social stability is a prerequisite for a strong and prosperous country. Border areas form the first line of defense for national security and, thus, play an important role in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The Inner Mongolia autonomous region, China's first provincial-level ethnic autonomous region and the birthplace of the system of regional ethnic autonomy, lies along the country's northern frontier. Stretching across the map of China like a galloping horse, it has a border extending more than 4,200 kilometers across grasslands, the Gobi Desert and vast forests.
Inner Mongolia not only has a proud tradition of ethnic unity, it also serves as a front line for safeguarding national security and territorial integrity. In the face of increasingly intense strategic competition among major powers and a complex and changing regional environment, Inner Mongolia has made safeguarding national security and social stability a bottom-line requirement for border governance.
Taking a strategic approach, it has advanced ethnic unity and the modernization of border governance, creating a picture of prosperous border communities, beautiful border areas, harmonious relations, strong border defenses and secure frontiers.
Forging a stronger sense of community for the Chinese nation
Political security is the foremost component of national security, and the fundamental guarantee of a stable border lies in the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The northern frontier is not only a shield protecting national sovereignty and territorial security, but also a strategic front line for forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.
The Party's overall leadership has been involved in Inner Mongolia's process of border governance, advancing political efforts as well as ideological guidance to strengthen the border. With the goal of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation as its central focus, it is building a solid foundation for lasting peace and stability along China's northern frontier.
Inner Mongolia has consistently made forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation the central theme of its work. It has steadily promoted ethnic unity, guiding people of all ethnic groups to develop a sound understanding of the country, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, history and religion, while firmly rejecting historical nihilism and narrow ethnocentrism.
Within the broader strategic framework of safeguarding national security and political stability, the region has maintained a strong sense of urgency and taken a bottom-line approach. Drawing on keen political awareness and strong capabilities in risk assessment and early warning, it has established a border governance system involving the Party, government, military, police and civilians.
Across the region, responsibilities for safeguarding the border have been firmly shouldered and political accountability has been extended all the way to the grassroots. By combining institutional improvement, technological empowerment and public participation, Inner Mongolia has developed a security system capable of responding rapidly, making sound assessments and taking decisive action. This has laid a solid ideological and spiritual foundation for lasting stability along the northern frontier.
The essence of forging a strong ideological foundation lies in translating the grand national narrative into everyday experiences that people of all ethnic groups can see and feel.
The development of "pomegranate communities", where people of different ethnic groups live together and become increasingly integrated, and the role of Ulan Muqir performance troupes in safeguarding the border are vivid examples.
In 2025, Saihan district of Hohhot deepened the development of "pomegranate communities". Residents from 12 ethnic groups, including Han, Mongolian and Hui, lived together in integrated communities, with the proportion of mixed-ethnicity residential areas reaching 70 percent.
Communities set up service counters in Mandarin and ethnic languages and paired families from different ethnic groups. As a result, the dispute resolution rate rose to 98 percent. By promoting integration in both physical spaces and cultural life, the communities effectively reduced barriers among residents.
Grassroots Party organizations served as strong front line outposts, using organizational support and cultural engagement to strengthen emotional bonds among people of all ethnic groups as they lived, studied, built and shared together.
A strong sense of community for the Chinese nation is taking deeper root here. Political guidance, organizational support and ideological cohesion are working together to make all ethnic groups join hands to safeguard the northern frontier, providing a solid foundation for the modernization of border governance.
In Hulunbuir, a five-level coordination mechanism has been established linking township-level Party committees, village-level Party organizations, Party-member households serving as community centers, border guards and border residents.
The city has strategically established 605 Party-member center households, set up yurts as border sentry posts, recruited 1,190 full-time border guards to strengthen front line forces and developed 288 strong Party branches in border areas.
In Narenbaolage village in Abga Banner, a 98-kilometer Party-built corridor serves as a link connecting six types of activity platforms. This has helped establish a joint defense and control network involving the military, police and local residents.
Manzhouli city has brought together 17 border-related agencies, including the armed police, customs and border inspection authorities, to establish a joint coordination mechanism. This has created a border defense structure in which the municipal Party committee sets the direction, the government coordinates overall efforts, the military serves as the backbone, the police take charge of governance and the public provides the foundation.
Through policy communication, cultural engagement and digital empowerment, the grand national narrative is being translated into tangible experiences in people's daily lives. Political guidance, organizational support and ideological cohesion are working in concert to bring together the powerful strength of people of all ethnic groups in safeguarding the northern frontier.
This has laid a solid foundation for the modernization of border governance and long-term social stability, while providing a vivid example of ethnic unity in practice.
From offline services to digital empowerment, and from stage performances to assistance in pastoral areas, the platforms and methods may change, but the commitment to serving communities at the grassroots remains unchanged.
The ideological foundation for identifying with the great motherland, the Chinese nation, Chinese culture, the Party and socialism with Chinese characteristics has grown increasingly solid.
Building a strong governance barrier for border stability
In Inner Mongolia, the spirit of the rule of law has been integrated into every aspect of border governance, ensuring that all work is carried out in accordance with the law and promoting coordinated progress in building a law-based country, government and society.
In managing ethnic and religious affairs, the region continues to improve the system of regional ethnic autonomy and protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens of all ethnic groups in accordance with the law.
It has expanded channels for people to express their legitimate concerns and interests, using a combination of legal regulation, education and guidance, consultation and dialogue, and mediation to prevent and resolve various conflicts. Illegal activities that undermine ethnic unity are dealt with strictly, while regular public legal education has been used to raise border residents' awareness of the law, the nation and national defense.
The vitality of the rule of law ultimately comes from the tangible benefits it brings to people. The Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law took effect on July 1, 2026, marking a new stage in the law-based governance of ethnic affairs in China.
Following the law's implementation, Baotou Damao Power Supply Company of Inner Mongolia Power Group has remained committed to providing electricity services in border farming and pastoral areas. It has strictly followed relevant laws and policies on ethnic affairs in the new era, integrated the rule of law into every aspect of its operations, and incorporated the task of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation into its work.
By providing reliable electricity and inclusive public services, the company has fulfilled its social responsibilities as a State-owned enterprise and continued to support ethnic unity and progress and border governance. Across the vast Damao grassland, it is writing a new chapter of high-quality development through "empowering the border with electricity and promoting unity with one heart".
Meanwhile, the Ereenhot border management detachment, or brigade, has integrated the spirit of the law into its responsibilities for safeguarding the border, guided by the goals of ethnic integration, police-community cooperation and joint governance of the border.
Members of the publicity team of the detachment have focused on forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation and conducted national defense education for young people in light of the realities of border management.
By drawing on policy support, institutional safeguards and cultural engagement, Inner Mongolia has explored an innovative governance approach in which the rule of law and ethnic unity reinforce each other.
The underlying logic is clear: national unity is the fundamental basis for ethnic unity, while ethnic unity is an important guarantee for safeguarding national unity. The two reinforce one another and together provide a solid foundation for a stable border, a harmonious society and a better life for the people. Ethnic unity is not an abstract concept; it is a concrete process rooted in everyday practice.
Across the vast grasslands and pastoral areas and along the long border, the rule of law is gradually becoming part of people's daily lives. At a border police station in Xin Barga Right Banner, a border guard named Tumen had long faced difficulties securing a reliable power supply because of the harsh geographical and natural conditions.
His household relied on solar and wind power as well as a diesel generator, resulting in unstable voltage and unreliable electricity. With the support of the Party committee and government of the banner, his home was connected to the regular power grid in 2023, bringing light and warmth into his life and fundamentally improving his daily life and work as a border guard.
Today, border management has brought police and residents together in a coordinated effort. Through tangible improvements in their lives, local people have gradually transformed their love for their homeland into a deep sense of identification with the country. This sense of identification is not a slogan written on paper, nor is it imposed from outside. It is an emotional bond with the country that naturally develops through joint participation and shared responsibility.
Ethnic unity and progress have gained renewed vitality under the framework of the rule of law. People of all ethnic groups are working together in an atmosphere of mutual support and close bonds, transforming their deep affection for the country into concrete actions to safeguard the border and build their shared home.
Practice has shown that when the spirit of the rule of law and ethnic solidarity reinforce each other, a strong sense of community can truly become internalized and translated into action, providing the strongest and most enduring foundation for unity and stability along China's northern frontier.
Building a stronger security barrier along the northern frontier
Technology is injecting new momentum and intelligence into border governance. The Xiliin Gol border management detachment has established a low-altitude policing system equipped with China's domestically developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System. It covers 42,000 square kilometers, achieves a patrol coverage rate of 95 percent and has created a three-dimensional prevention and control network integrating the air, ground and other dimensions.
It can complete patrols along the entire 1,103-kilometer border within three hours. Technology has transformed border control from passive response to proactive early warning. Its role goes beyond border patrols and has become an integral part of protecting herders in their everyday lives.
In March 2026, during a snowstorm in the Ulgai Management Area, 23 horses belonging to a herder went missing. The local mounted police team immediately launched a search-and-rescue operation combining drones, snowmobiles and horseback patrols.
Equipped with thermal imaging, drones scanned the snow-covered grassland from above, while snowmobiles and horseback police teams moved simultaneously into remote areas. After the drones detected traces of the horses, they transmitted live images to the ground teams, guiding them in carrying out a targeted search.
All the horses were found within six hours. Known by local herders as "people on the border", the horseback police team protects what herders call their "lifeline" through a combination of technology and dedication.
In mid-May 2025, the Heiyingshan border police station of the Alshaa border management detachment received an urgent request for help from a local herder who had injured his leg and was unable to search for his missing camels.
After receiving the request, police immediately deployed a drone to assist the search. They operated the drone continuously for three days, conducting a thorough search across the desert and eventually located the camels deep in the Gobi, helping the herder complete the insurance claim process.
In Alshaa Right Banner, the Alatengchaoge border police station has established a drone patrol team. During seasonal livestock movements, police officers travel alongside herders while drones conduct simultaneous aerial patrols, looking in particular for missing camels, stuck vehicles and mechanical breakdowns along the route, and providing timely assistance whenever herders encounter difficulties.
From herds of horses in snowstorms to camel caravans in the Gobi Desert, drones have become the "aerial partners" of border police in serving herders. A border police station in Hulunbuir used a drone to locate 10 missing cattle 40 kilometers away, while the Yihegaole border police station in Xiliin Gol used drone-based thermal imaging to identify fire sources and help evacuate people from fire-affected areas. Technology is giving patriotic border guards smarter tools, while also bringing a warmer human touch to border governance.
The technological monitoring capabilities of the drone patrol system complement the on-the-ground patrols of border guards. Technology strengthens border defense, while ethnic unity brings people together around the shared task of safeguarding the frontier. Together, they build a strong security and stability barrier along China's northern border.
From political guidance to the rule of law, from technological empowerment to unity-based border defense, Inner Mongolia is steadily advancing the building of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation as its central theme. By turning the fruits of development into stronger public support, it is building a solid barrier of security and stability along China's northern frontier.
The author is an associate professor of the School of Marxism Studies at Dalian Minzu University.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
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