The interior structure of the Qaidam Basin records kinematic information related to the regional deformation of the northern Tibetan Plateau. Based on balanced cross sections and depth structure maps covering two individual anticlines in the western Qaidam Basin, we calculate shortening and strike‐slip amounts on the structures. Strain analyses reveal a complex deformation mechanism for them, comprising ~7°–10° clockwise rotation and oblique convergence, with block rotation having contributed more to the sinistral slip than has oblique convergence. Considering the similarities in geometry, kinematics, and onset time of the pervasive northwest trending structures within the basin, we propose that they were developed during distributed dextral shear that has affected the Qaidam Basin since the early Miocene. The bulk shear strikes at ~N55°E, which is consistent with the northeastward decrease in gravitational potential energy away from the central Tibetan Plateau, and is facilitated by the movement on the Altyn Tagh and eastern Kunlun faults.