China's frontier areas are regions inhabited by multiple ethnic groups with different religious beliefs , languages , and cultures . Therefore , not only is the decentralized and cross-national nature of″guarding the border , managing the border , and controlling the border″obvious , but the complexity and autonomy of″securing the border , governing the border , and enriching the border″are also evident and important . Historically , China had experience with several unique approaches to managing its frontier areas , which included :playing different foreign powers off one another;governing frontier regions with local officials and customs;centralizing control over frontier areas;employing a league and banner system;and garrisoning frontier areas with troops that produced their own food . At present , China is well experienced with self-governance in ethnic minority regions . Nevertheless , the deficiency of research on frontier security issues and the fluctuation of frontier security policies highlight the value of developing ″frontier security studies″.″Frontier security studies″are an interdisciplinary field that takes frontier security as its research object and the exploration of the patterns of frontier security governance as its main content . Its domain of inquiry is the governance of frontier security , its normative basis is″human security″;its theoretical mode is″peace-and-cooperation-ism″, and its research emphasis is capacity- building on frontier security governance . The development of ″frontier security studies″will enrich the contents , methods , and actual effectiveness of frontier security governance , and help frontier security researches make the transition from being scattered , passive , and experience-based to being systematic , proactive , and theoretical .