A small village holds the fort for China on the Arunachal border

Chinese President Xi Jinping has lauded a Tibetan family residing in the Lhunze County — on the border with Arunachal Pradesh — for its decision not to vacate its village.

The President’s remarks signal China’s opposition — at least for now — to any change in the status quo of the border alignment in the area. It comes on the heels of the Doklam standoff on the border in the Sikkim sector.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said that Mr. Xi, also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, was replying to Tibetan herders on Saturday, after they wrote to him about their township.

He acknowledged the family's efforts to safeguard the territory, and thanked them for the loyalty and contributions they have made in the border area.

“Without the peace in the territory, there will be no peaceful lives for the millions of families,” Mr. Xi observed.

Besides, he hoped that the family would motivate more herders to set down roots in the border area “like galsang flowers,” and become guardians of the Chinese territory and constructors of a happy hometown.

Specifically, Mr. Xi was responding to Zhoigar and Yangzom — two girls from the tiny Yumai township while the 19th Party Congress, held after a gap of five years, was in session.

Analysts say that the President’s replies to a deluge of letters that he gets are an indicator of his priorities, as seen since the time of Mao Zedong.

Chinese media reports highlight that State Bureau of Letters and Visits receives around 2,000 letters every day, of which two-thirds are directly addressed to the President or Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

The Hong Kong based South China Morning Post (SCMP) is reporting that From 1979 to 1996, the family of herders were the only inhabitants of the Himalayan village of Yumai in Lhunze county, which covers 1,976 square kilometers, according to Chinese records.

“The community has since grown to 32 residents but remains on the front line of China and India’s conflicting territorial claims,” the daily observes.

According to SCMP, Chinese National Geography reported in 2015 that the Tibetan family’s residence there had helped China maintain control of the territory.

“Yumai would be occupied by India already if the family had decided to leave,” the village’s head was quoted as saying.