Xi maps out new path for growth of Xinjiang

During 4-day trip, he expresses pleasure at seeing new vitality in region

President Xi Jinping has mapped out a new path for ethnic unity and economic growth in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, underscoring the support of the people as the most important factor in ensuring the region's long-term stability.

Analysts said Xi's four-day fact-finding trip that began on Tuesday, his second over the past eight years to the westernmost part of China, has signaled unwavering commitment from the nation's top leadership to ensuring the region's long-term prosperity.

During the trip, which took him to Urumqi, the regional capital, Shihezi and Turpan, the president said that the stability in Xinjiang was a hard-won result that must be fully cherished.

Xi said he is more than pleased to see the new vitality in the region, which is now in a state of peace and stability and is undergoing robust growth.

According to the regional government's work report released early this year, Xinjiang has reported no violent terror attacks for five consecutive years.

The region has also made steady progress in improving people's well-being. Residents' per capita disposable income reached 26,075 yuan ($3,860) last year, up by 9.4 percent from 2020.

Xinjiang was among the regions leading China's population growth over the past decade. According to the regional bureau of statistics, Xinjiang's population increased from 21.8 million in 2010 to 25.8 million in 2020, and in that period the population of members of the Uygur ethnic group rose from 10 million to 11.6 million.

Ma Liang, a professor of public administration at Renmin University of China, said that in Xi's most recent trip, the president has fully approved of the outcomes in the governance of the region over the past few years.

The trip signaled pushback against the false accusations that the United States and other Western nations leveled against Xinjiang such as "forced labor" and even "genocide", he said.

"The change and growth of Xinjiang is obvious to all and not to be denied by some Western countries. The people of Xinjiang will not tolerate false accusations," he added.

While meeting with regional officials on Friday, Xi highlighted the need to better introduce the region to the world in a multilevel, comprehensive and multidimensional manner so the people of the world can see Xinjiang with their own eyes.

He outlined a host of measures for the region to bolster its growth, build up ethnic unity and guarantee the normal religious needs of believers.

The president urged various sectors of Xinjiang to unite and look to the future in order to maximize the efforts of officials and the people in ensuring stability, seeking growth and promoting reform, saying that the authorities should give priority to heeding advice from various sectors of society.

In building up the sense that the Chinese nation is one big family, the president said that exchanges, communication and integration between different ethnic groups must be promoted.

He called for steps to enable the outcomes of growth to better benefit people's well-being, saying that the high-quality development of the economy must be accelerated and industries with local advantages must be strengthened in order to create more jobs.

The outcomes of poverty alleviation and the rural vitalization strategy must be better aligned to improve the long-term mechanism for sustainable development in rural areas, he said.

According to regional authorities, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Xinjiang's less developed regions reached 14,798 yuan in 2021, up by 12.08 percent year-on-year.

The region offered over 1.47 million training sessions to the rural workforce last year, with 1.08 million people who have shaken off poverty now employed and earning a stable wage.

The president also urged Xinjiang, a key hub for China-Europe freight train services and a western gateway for China's opening-up, to bolster its level of opening-up and move forward with the development of a core area for the Silk Road Economic Belt.

In a visit to Xinjiang University, Xi told students and teachers that China's theories and policies on ethnic affairs have proved to be sound and effective, and that the nation must adhere to the right path in solving ethnic issues with Chinese characteristics.

With strong unity among its ethnic groups, China will be invincible and embrace a bright future, the nation's second centenary goal will be reached, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will be realized, he said.

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn