China Daily opens Xinjiang office

By Li Qian (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-11-21 22:32

China Daily opened a bureau in Urumqi on Friday to assist with publicity work in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

China Daily editor-in-chief Zhu Ling, center, and Fu Qiang, member of the Xinjiang Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, shake hands during the opening ceremony to unveil the new bureau of China Daily in Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, November 21, 2008. [chinadaily.com.cn]

Editor-in-chief Zhu Ling attended the opening ceremony of the new branch along with Fu Qiang, secretary of the regional Discipline Inspection Committee, and Li Yi, director of the Publicity Office, both of whom are members of the regional Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China.

China Daily is China's only national English-language newspaper published around the world, serving as a window of the country to the world. The Xinjiang bureau is poised to connect the region to the rest of the world, and to showcase the region's rapid economic development, social stability and unification of local ethnic groups.

"Our country's policies to speed up the development of western regions have laid the foundation for Xinjiang's future," Zhu said during the ceremony. "I firmly believe this new office will contribute to the reform and opening-up of Xinjiang, promote prosperity and social stability, and help the international community understand a thriving Xinjiang."

The opening of the Xinjiang office marks another big step in the news group's endeavor to expand local coverage. Since the end of last year, China Daily has opened eight offices throughout the country, in Guangxi, Hunan, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Henan, Hubei and Xinjiang.