China has appointed a new military commander with experience of tough postings to oversee border security in its Xinjiang region, a possible signal that it expects trouble following the US pullout from neighbouring Afghanistan.

Lt Gen Wang Haijiang previously served in Tibet, where he introduced martial arts specialists to the region’s military, and guarded China’s disputed border with India where clashes last summer killed 24 soldiers. His role as military commander of Xinjiang is to secure the frontiers of the sprawling western region, which borders eight countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Beijing is fearful of Afghanistan becoming a base for insurgents who could threaten the security of Xinjiang, where authorities have locked up more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a campaign they say is to curb terrorism and radicalism.

His appointment comes after Britain and the US pulled their troops out of Afghanistan 20 years after invading, and conflict intensifies between Afghan government forces and the Taliban.

“In the Chinese system when you get posted to hardship posts like Tibet you get your stripes, and if you get shifted from one hardship post to another that shows that the Communist Party really thinks you’re a tough guy,” said Raffaello Pantucci, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in London.

“Here you’ve got a man who’s just served on their border with India where they got involved in a clash.

“Shifting him over here is maybe a reflection of the fact that they think someone who’s handled difficult border situations is needed for what might be coming down the line in Afghanistan.”

Lt Gen Wang is thought to have been in Xinjiang since at least April, but his appointment was only revealed this week when the Xinjiang Military District’s social media showed him presiding over a senior officers’ retirement ceremony.

The 58-year-old will command a massive military presence in Xinjiang, which is familiar territory as he was formerly deputy commander of the region’s southern part.

In 2016, he was posted to Tibet where he rose to be commander of the region.

Soldiers are based there to stamp out Tibetan opposition to the ruling Communist Party.

“We must always maintain a strong sense of danger and alert,” said Lt Gen Wang in a co-authored article in the People’s Liberation Army Daily in August last year.

“We must... ensure that once something happens, we can decisively attack and fight and win,” he said. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)