Summary of this article
China has set up a new county, Cenling, in Xinjiang near the Karakoram range and the Wakhan Corridor, in a move aimed at curbing infiltration by Uyghur militants.
The development marks the third such administrative addition in over a year.
It is highlighting Beijing’s growing focus on border security and governance in the sensitive region.
China has established a new county in its volatile Xinjiang province near Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the Afghanistan border, in an apparent move to strengthen security along the narrow Wakhan Corridor and curb infiltration by Uyghur separatist militants.
The county, named Cenling, is located near the Karakoram range and close to the borders with PoK and Afghanistan, underscoring its strategic importance.
This marks the third new county created by China in Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim Uyghur region, in just over a year.
India last year protested the creation of Hean and Hekang counties, stating that parts of their jurisdiction fall within its Union Territory of Ladakh.
Hean includes much of the disputed Aksai Chin plateau, part of Ladakh that has been under Chinese control since the 1962 war and remains a key flashpoint in the India-China border dispute.
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region government announced the formation of Cenling on March 26, though details of its administrative divisions and exact boundaries have not been disclosed.
It will be administered by Kashgar prefecture, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
Kashgar, a historic Silk Road city, serves as a key gateway linking China with South and Central Asia.
It is also the starting point of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a USD 60 billion project that runs through PoK and has been opposed by India.
Experts say the creation of Cenling highlights Beijing’s increasing focus on border security and governance.
Lin Minwang, a professor at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, said the move "reflects China's deeper recognition of the strategic importance of this region".
"At a broader level, the decision signals China’s emphasis on its borderlands,” he was quoted as saying.
He added that the new county is geographically linked to Afghanistan’s narrow Wakhan Corridor — a 74-km strip bordering Xinjiang that separates Tajikistan and PoK — underlining China’s security and counterterrorism concerns.
Beijing has previously expressed concerns about Uyghur militants from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) using the corridor to enter Xinjiang from Afghanistan.
Yun Sun, a senior fellow at the Stimson Centre in Washington, said the move reflects an effort to build a “stronger grass-roots level government structure for effective governance and control”.
“It helps to strengthen the stabilisation efforts by the government in the frontier region, which is traditionally more subject to ethnic turbulence and potential infiltration of foreign militants from Central Asia,” she said.
(with PTI inputs)
