Rutog Town / Rituzhen རུ་ཐོང་གྲོང་རྡལ / 日土镇 Derub, Gyelgosang | |
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  Rutog Town / Rituzhen | |
| Coordinates:33°23′6″N79°43′48″E / 33.38500°N 79.73000°E /33.38500; 79.73000 | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Tibet Autonomous Region |
| Prefecture | Ngari Prefecture |
| County | Rutog County |
| Elevation | 4,280 m (14,040 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 1,000 |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (CST) |
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TheRutog Town[1][2] (Tibetan:རུ་ཐོང་གྲོང་རྡལ,ZYPY:Rutog Chongdai),[3]calledRituzhen in Chinese (Chinese:日土镇;pinyin:Rìtǔ zhèn),[3] is a town and the seat ofRutog County in the far westernTibet Autonomous Region. It is also a major military base for China near the disputed border with India allowing it to press its claims militarily.[4][5]
The town was built around in 1999 by the Chinese administration of Tibet on theChina National Highway 219.[6] Prior to that, the seat of the county was atRudok or Rutog Dzong, about 10 km northwest, which had been its capital for more than a thousand years.[7][8]
The new Rutog Town is located 120 kilometres by road northwest ofShiquanhe (also called Ali or Ngari) and 10 kilometres south ofLake Pangong.[9] The town has apopulation of about 1000 people.[citation needed]
Prior to the construction of the town around 1999, the location contained a smallGyelgosang community (Tibetan:རྒྱལ་སྒོ་བསངས,Wylie:rgyal sgo bsangs,THL:gyel go sang,ZYPY:Gyaigosang;Chinese:杰果桑社区;pinyin:Jié guǒ sāng shèqū) of theDerub village (33°22′18″N79°41′46″E / 33.3718°N 79.6961°E /33.3718; 79.6961 (Derub)).[3][a] Lacking a river of its own, it is watered by a canal dug from theMaga Tsangpo river at Derub.
TibetologistGyurme Dorje states that the newly built town is basically a Chinese military garrison,[10] as does the Lonely Planet guide.[11] The town serves as a base for China's military operations against India along the disputedSino-Indian border inLadakh and the associated "salami tactics".[12]
Normally able to accommodate 5,000 troops, the camp's capacity was expanded to house 15,000 to 18,000 troops by 2021.[13] Satellite imagery indicated that China broke ground in August 2019,[4] and started extending the facilities in the waterless valley to the northeast of the town. New garrison facilities, radar stations, surface-to-air missile sites, heliports and tank drills have been constructed.[5]
The extended township of Rutog contains the OldRudok town and the valley ofShaldat andSpanggur lakes towards the Ladakh border. It is bounded in the north by thePangong lake and in the south by the Maga Tsangpo basin.[14] The valley contains villages such asChulung 'Ogma (33°22′46″N79°31′51″E / 33.3795°N 79.5308°E /33.3795; 79.5308 (Chulung 'Ogma)),Recho (orRetso;33°24′31″N79°11′52″E / 33.4087°N 79.1977°E /33.4087; 79.1977 (Recho)) andShingzhang (33°29′50″N79°02′19″E / 33.4973°N 79.0387°E /33.4973; 79.0387 (Shingzhang)) at the southeastern end of Spanggur Lake.
TheChina National Highway 219 (G219) connects Rutog toShiquanhe, the capital of theNgari Prefecture,Gar Günsa, the home ofNgari Gunsa Airport, and other venues to the southeast. In the north, the highway passes through the disputedAksai Chin region and goes toKashgar.[15] TheLonely Planet guide mentioned in 1999 that the visitors coming from Kashgar were required to have a permit to enter Rutog.[6]
At Derub, a road calledMusi Xian branches off from G219 towards theSpanggur Lake near the Indian border.[16]Yeban Xian branches off from Musi Xian near Shaldat Lake and heads to the Indus Valley and, viaDemchok, into theTsamda County.[17] At the northeastern end of the Pangong Lake, another offshoot of G219 calledBanying Xian heads to the Chinese military base atKongka La.[18]
In addition, China has recently started constructing a bridge over the Pangong Lake near theKhurnak Plain. This is intended to link up Musi Xian and Banying Xian, so that China can move troops and resources speedily across the two sides of the Pangong Lake.[19]
Rutog
Rutog
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