Rutog Town

Prior to the construction of the town around 1999, the location contained a small Gyelgosang community (; ) of the Derub village (). The town serves as a base for China's military operations against India along the disputed Sino-Indian border in Ladakh and the associated "salami tactics". Normally able to accommodate 5,000 troops, the camp's capacity was expanded to house 15,000 to 18,000 troops by 2021. Satellite imagery indicated that China broke ground in August 2019, 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. == Township ==

The extended township of Rutog contains the Old Rudok town and the valley of Shaldat and Spanggur lakes towards the Ladakh border. It is bounded in the north by the Pangong lake and in the south by the Maga Tsangpo basin. The valley contains villages such as '''Chulung 'Ogma (), Recho (or Retso; ) and Shingzhang''' () at the southeastern end of Spanggur Lake. == Transportation ==

The China National Highway 219 (G219) connects Rutog to Shiquanhe, the capital of the Ngari Prefecture, Gar Günsa, the home of Ngari Gunsa Airport, and other venues to the southeast. In the north, the highway passes through the disputed Aksai Chin region and goes to Kashgar. The Lonely Planet guide mentioned in 1999 that the visitors coming from Kashgar were required to have a permit to enter Rutog. Yeban Xian branches off from Musi Xian near Shaldat Lake and heads to the Indus Valley and, via Demchok, into the Tsamda County. At the northeastern end of the Pangong Lake, another offshoot of G219 called Banying Xian heads to the Chinese military base at Kongka La. In addition, China has recently started constructing a bridge over the Pangong Lake near the Khurnak 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. ==See also==