China has moved people -“border guardians”- to new settlements on its frontiers

It's a smart move for the CCP. Why leave things up to chance and dispute if yo have the wherewithal to set terms? It's a rational move.

I have no opinion whether this is right or wrong w/re its neighbors; however, from the PoV of its self interest, I can't see this as anything but positive for it.

"Working with the artificial intelligence company RAIC Labs, which scanned satellite images of China's entire land border captured by Planet Labs, The Times identified the locations of new villages and checked them against historical images, state media, social media posts and public records.

The mapping reveals that China has put at least one village near every accessible Himalayan pass that borders India, as well as on most of the passes bordering Bhutan and Nepal... "