Officers take high road to guard nation's border

Police at China's highest security facility beat lack of oxygen, altitude sickness to patrol mountains, save lives. Yang Zekun reports.

Driving for hours across uninhabited grassland to reach isolated settlements and solve residents' problems, and patrolling a glacier more than 5,600 meters above sea level every month is hard work.

But that's life for Sonam Daje and his fellow police officers of the National Immigration Administration, who are never deterred by low levels of oxygen, the cold, windy weather or strong ultraviolet radiation.

Instead, they are proud to work at the Pumaqangtang border police station in Nakarze county, Lhokha city, Tibet autonomous region. It's China's highest police station.

The facility－established in 2012 at 5,373 meters above sea level－has nine officers. As the only law enforcement body in the area, the officers are required to undertake public security work, such as checking ID cards, in addition to their border duties.

Pumaqangtang covers 1,200 square kilometers and has a permanent population of 1,100, with most residents involved in animal husbandry. The residents of the once-impoverished town are scattered over a wide area, which presents challenges for the officers.

Sonam Daje became station chief in June 2016 after eight years working at other high-altitude police stations.

Though he is a member of the Tibetan ethnic group and was born and raised in the region, it still took him months to get used to the lack of oxygen and regular altitude sickness.

Last year, he became deputy chief of the Nakarze border management team, which oversees the police station.