Hain County covers much of the disputed Aksai Chin Plateau, which India considers part of Ladakh, but which has been under Chinese control since the 1962 war and remains a major point of contention between the two countries.Kashgar, which Senling will administer, is a historic city on the ancient Silk Road and serves as a strategic gateway linking China with South and Central Asia. It is also the starting point of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a project passing through PoK that India has consistently opposed.Although specific details regarding Senling’s administrative divisions and boundaries have not been disclosed, its proximity to disputed areas and India’s prior objections to similar development highlight the sensitivity surrounding China’s administrative changes in the border areas.Lin Minwang, a professor at Shanghai-based Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, said the move “reflects China’s deep recognition of the strategic importance of the region”.“At a broader level, this decision signals China’s reassertion of its border,” PTI quoted the professor as saying.He said the new county is geographically linked to Afghanistan’s narrow Wakhan Corridor, a 74-km strip bordering Xinjiang that separates Tajikistan and PoK, highlighting China’s security concerns in the region.Beijing has previously expressed concern about Uyghur militants from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement using the Wakhan Corridor to enter Xinjiang from Afghanistan. Yun Sun, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington, said the new counties represent an effort toward stronger local governance.“It helps strengthen stabilization efforts by the government in the frontier region, which has traditionally been subject to ethnic unrest and potential infiltration of foreign terrorists from Central Asia,” he said.