China has created a new county in the Xinjiang region close to the border with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Afghanistan, a move that comes amid ongoing tensions with India over disputed territory, particularly Ladakh.According to the South China Morning Post, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region government announced on March 26 that the county, called Gaofeng County, would be under the jurisdiction of the Kashgar Prefecture. The new administrative unit is strategically located near the Karakoram Mountains, close to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Afghanistan.This is the third county established by China in Xinjiang in just over a year. India had previously lodged a protest with Beijing over the establishment of Ho’an County and Hekang County, claiming that part of its jurisdiction fell under the Indian Federal Territory of Ladakh.
Shi’an district includes much of the disputed Aksai Chin plateau, which India considers part of Ladakh but has been under Chinese control since the 1962 war and remains a key point of contention between the two countries.Kashgar, the peak jurisdiction, is a historical city on the ancient Silk Road and China’s strategic gateway to South Asia and Central Asia. This is also the starting point of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which India has always opposed.While specific details of the peak’s administrative divisions and boundaries have not been disclosed, its proximity to disputed areas and India’s previous opposition to similar developments highlight the sensitivities surrounding administrative changes in China’s border areas.Lin Minwang, a professor at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the move “reflects China’s deeper understanding of the strategic importance of the region.”“On a broader level, this decision shows the importance China attaches to its border areas,” PTI quoted the professor as saying.He pointed out that the new county is geographically connected to Afghanistan’s narrow Wakhan Corridor, a 74-kilometer-long strip that borders Xinjiang and separates Tajikistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, highlighting China’s security concerns in the region.Beijing has previously expressed concern that Uyghur militants from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement are using the Wakhan Corridor as a route from Afghanistan into Xinjiang. Sun Yun, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, said the new counties represent an effort to strengthen local governance.“This helps strengthen the government’s stabilization efforts in the border region, which has traditionally been more vulnerable to ethnic unrest and potential infiltration by foreign fighters from Central Asia,” she said.
