Unlocking Xinjiang's potential

The stock market reacted favorably to Beijing's decision to appoint Zhang Chunxian, former Communist Party chief of Hunan province, to head the Party in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Xinjiang, as people often say, is a complicated place to manage because of its diverse ethnic and religious relations. But contrary to the belief of those who have never had much local experience, the government's priority there should not be stability for stability's sake.

Like anywhere else in China, or rather anywhere else in the developing world, whatever problem there is in Xinjiang, it won't go away unless there is development, or new wealth, and along with this, new opportunities, to be shared by the younger generation.