Originally published by Reuters,24 Apr 2010-04-24

By Emma Graham-Harrison

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has replaced the top official in energy-rich Western Xinjiang region, hit last year by deadly rioting and a scare over syringe stabbings, the official Xinhua agency reported on Saturday.

Zhang Chunxian has been made Communist Party Secretary for the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region — a position which carries more power than the post of governor — replacing Wang Lequan, who had run the remote region since 1994.

The Xinhua report did not say why Wang had been removed, but he was the target of massive public anger in restive Xinjiang for his handling of rioting last July, which left nearly 200 dead, and the subsequent syringe attack scares.

Protesters massed in the regional capital, Urumqi, in September calling for his removal, a rare public challenge by Han Chinese to the ruling Communist Party in Xinjiang.

The region is strategically vital to China — a vast swathe of territory, it holds rich oil and gas deposits and borders Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. But it has long been a hotbed of tensions between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese.

In Xinjiang’s worst ethnic violence in decades, Uighurs attacked majority Han Chinese in Urumqi on July 5, after taking to the streets to protest against attacks on Uighur workers at a factory in south China in June in which two Uighurs were killed.

Han Chinese in Urumqi sought revenge two days later. At least 197 people died in the violence, authorities say. Widespread scares about stabbing attacks using syringes began around two months after the rioting.

China in September sacked the top official of strife-torn Urumqi city as well as the regional police chief.

Wang has been made deputy secretary of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee, an apparent demotion.

Zhang, 57, was previously Communist Party Secretary for southern Hunan region. He has also served as Minister of Communication, according to Xinhua.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63N0JT20100424