Aksai Chin is a region administered by China partly in Hotan County, Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang and partly in Rutog County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet and constituting the easternmost portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute between India and China since 1959. It is claimed by India as part of its Leh District, Ladakh Union Territory.

Hotan County is a county in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the Hotan Prefecture. Almost all the residents of the county are Uyghurs and live around oases situated between the desolate Taklamakan Desert and Kunlun Mountains. Hotan County is the southernmost county-level division of Xinjiang. The county borders Karakax/Moyu County to the northwest, Hotan City and Lop County to the northeast, Qira County to the east, Pishan County to the west, and Rutog County, Tibet to the southeast. Hotan County administers most of Aksai Chin, an area disputed between China and India. The Line of Actual Control divides the India-controlled part of Ladakh union territory from the Aksai Chin area administered as part of southwest Hotan County.