Originally published by The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 Apr 2010

By JOHN GARNAUT  

BEIJING: Chinese officials are touting a policy review in Xinjiang, the site of bloody race riots last year, after the removal of the region’s long-running Communist Party chief. Xinjiang has been under a communications and security lockdown since July 5 when ethnic Uighur riots and then security and vigilante reprisals left about 200 people dead in Urumqi city.

The violence was the deadliest that China has experienced since the Tiananmen massacres of 1989. On Saturday, Xinjiang’s hardline Communist Party boss, Wang Lequan, was removed from his post – after 16 years in the job and 10 months of speculation that he would be sacked – and replaced by a relative liberal, Zhang Chunxian. A Chinese security source, with expertise on Xinjiang, said the leadership change was related to a wide-ranging policy review.

”Xinjiang is stable now but that is because of the heavy presence of the People’s Liberation Army and other security forces,” said the source. ”That is not suitable for the future.”

Advertisement: Story continues belowHe said next month would see the first Xinjiang Work Conference, driven by top central leaders and involving a range of ministerial and provincial leaders from around the country. The conference would focus on providing economic opportunities to the region and narrowing the gap between rich and poor.

”Economic development is one important way to improve welfare and stability, but it’s not the only way,” he said.

Mr Wang dominated Xinjiang’s politics like no other provincial leader in the country. He attracted vast central government resources to fight ”separatism, extremism and terrorism” while channelling business opportunities and political posts to his family and friends from his native Shandong province.

Mr Wang’s former deputy, also a hardliner from Shandong, was promoted to be the party boss of Tibet in 2005. Mr Wang managed to alienate Xinjiang’s Uighur population for his ”strike hard” campaigns against ethnic strife and also much of the Han population for failing to ensure their security. In July, Han Chinese massed in Urumqi to publicly called for his dismissal.

Mr Wang’s removal is unlikely to lead to any reversal of his hardline security policies but it could break up entrenched webs of patronage within the security and business sectors and also make space for some new ideas on how to alleviate social grievances.

Local Uighurs say they face severe economic, political and religious discrimination. In recent years it has become hard for Uighurs to obtain passports and even to live elsewhere in China without heavy surveillance and the risk of arbitrary detention.

Han Chinese complain about corruption, lack of accountability and affirmative action policies in favour of Uighurs.

In recent months there have been a number of high-level inspection tours and meetings to discuss policy direction in Xinjiang.

On Saturday the Vice-President, Xi Jinping, attended a meeting to remove Mr Wang. He noted Mr Wang’s ”firmly adhered to the idea that stability overrides everything” and praised his replacement, Mr Zhang, for having ”liberated ideas, a clear-thinking mind and a spirit of creative thought”.

On Friday President Hu Jintao chaired a Politburo meeting to ”study and promote a leap forward in development and long-term stability in Xinjiang”.

It appears Mr Wang will retain his seat on the 24-member Politburo.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/review-for-china-race-riot-city-after-chief-ousted-20100426-tn8h.html