Climate changes of the transitional zone between the mid-latitude westerlies and the East Asian monsoon on the tectonic scale remains unclear. The Jinta Basin, located close to the outermost frontier of the NE Tibetan Plateau within the mid-latitude interior of Asia, provides critical insights into climatic processes at the convergence between the influence of the westerly winds and the East Asian monsoon. In this study, we present high-resolution environmental magnetic records from a 268-m-long drill core through fluvio-lacustrine sediments at Liangjiazhuang (LJZ). The chi(fd)/(HIRM-IRM-300 mT) record from this core indicates humid conditions between similar to 3.4 and similar to 2.4 Ma, consistent with global warming in the late Pliocene driven by elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration. Since the beginning of the Pleistocene, the westerlies-monsoon system has become decoupled while the climate in the Jinta Basin has subsequently come under the control of the westerlies. The Jinta Basin experienced long-term stepwise aridification after similar to 2.4 Ma, and similar to 1.1 Ma, as a combined effect of global cooling, the expansion of Northern Hemisphere ice-sheets, and the surface uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau. Increased sea-surface temperature in the North Atlantic Ocean linked with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation may have contributed to a humid interval in the Central Asian interior between similar to 1.8 Ma and similar to 1.1 Ma. In addition, increased chi(lf) and chi(fd) values after similar to 0.8 Ma suggest enhanced input of ferrimagnetic minerals, resulting from intensified physical weathering and glacial abrasion on the NE Tibetan Plateau following the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT). The ferrimagnetic minerals transported by westerlies contributed to the eutrophication of North Pacific Ocean waters. Our findings provide a high-resolution environmental magnetic records from the westerlies - Asian monsoon transitional zone. The hydroclimate of middle-latitude Asia since the late Pliocene - Quaternary was collectively governed by CO2 concentration, global cooling linked to expansion of Northern Hemisphere ice-sheets, sea-surface temperature changes in the North Atlantic Ocean, and the surface uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau.