China Plans Highway Expansion in Border Regions Near India Under 15th Five-Year Plan, Including 394 km Xinjiang Route Parallel to Aksai Chin
New Delhi, March 12, 2026: China is preparing to expand and strengthen highway infrastructure in sensitive border regions adjacent to India under its upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan, according to draft proposals placed before the National People's Congress. The development blueprint outlines several road projects aimed at improving transport connectivity in remote western and frontier regions .
Key Projects in Border Regions
One significant project involves constructing a 394 km highway linking the northern and southern sides of the rugged Tianshan Mountains in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The route will run parallel to a strategic road built through the disputed Aksai Chin area to improve military mobility following the 1962 Sino-Indian border war .
The plan also includes upgrading three existing highways that connect to Tibet, strengthening road links across western China and providing better transport access to mountainous areas that have historically remained difficult to reach .
Dushanzi-Kuqa Highway Progress
Construction of the Dushanzi-Kuqa Expressway in central Xinjiang began in September 2025 and is expected to be completed by 2032. The 393.7 km expressway will run from Dushanzi in northern Xinjiang to Kuqa in the south, with a design speed of 100-120 km per hour. Once completed, it will reduce driving time across the Tianshan Mountains to around five hours and provide year-round travel, as the current Duku highway is open only four months annually due to snow and ice .
The expressway is expected to improve the transport network in western China and promote economic integration in Xinjiang, connecting popular attractions such as the Narat grasslands .
Strategic and Economic Significance
Commenting on China's plans, Liu Zongyi, director of the Centre for South Asian Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, stated that both economic development and strategic stability are driving China to expand infrastructure in border areas. Chinese leaders have long embraced the idea that "building roads is the first step to prosperity" and see improved transport links as key to boosting economies in border regions that lag behind more developed coastal provinces .
"Infrastructure holds significant strategic and economic value. In the event of an emergency, personnel and resources could be deployed more quickly to frontier regions, which is crucial for border stability and national defence," Liu told the South China Morning Post .
Broader Infrastructure Push
Under the 15th Five-Year Plan, which outlines China's policy priorities for the rest of the decade, Beijing aims to complete two highways spanning all nine of its land-border provinces and advance construction of the National Coastal Highway along its east coast, linking the port city of Dandong near North Korea with Dongxing on the Vietnam border .
In August 2025, Beijing established the Xinjiang-Tibet-Railway Company to oversee construction of a strategic 1,980 km artery between Lhasa in Tibet and Hotan in Xinjiang. The Hotan region includes the Galwan Valley, site of deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in 2020 .
The 15th Five-Year Plan, which has already been approved by the ruling Communist Party, is currently being reviewed by the National People's Congress. The plan also emphasizes artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and battery manufacturing as part of China's strategy to support long-term economic growth and technological capability .