'Keeping city safe is our top priority'

URUMQI: Maintaining social stability is crucial to preventing a repeat of the violence that erupted here last year, a senior official in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region said on Friday.

"The city's future depends on whether we have the overall social situation under control," said Zhu Hailun, secretary of the Urumqi committee of the Communist Party of China.

Speaking at a group discussion during the annual session of the city's People's Congress, he added: "Maintaining social stability and preventing unrest this year is the city government's top priority."