China Announces Development Plan for Restive Xinjiang Region
BEIJING — The new leader of the restive region of Xinjiang in western China has announced a series of economic measures to bolster confidence in the regional government, which was widely criticized by citizens after deadly ethnic rioting there last summer.
Stability is a top priority for the Chinese authorities, and the new measures are intended to help reach that goal by improving livelihoods and living conditions, according to a report on Friday in China Daily, an official English-language newspaper. Over the last year, Xinjiang has emerged as a prominent weak spot in the system of Chinese authoritarian control, with ethnic tensions at a constant boil. This month, the central government held a high-level policy conference on Xinjiang and announced steps to invigorate the economy and, in the words of Chinese officials, ensure “leapfrog development and lasting stability.”
The announcement on Thursday by the new Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang, Zhang Chunxian, 57, came on the heels of the national planning session. Mr. Zhang said the regional government would focus on developing the relatively poor areas of south Xinjiang, the heartland of the Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people who migrated from the Mongolian steppe centuries ago.
The Uighurs, the largest ethnic group in Xinjiang, generally resent discrimination by the Han, who dominate China and are moving in large numbers to the region. On July 5, 2009, frustrated Uighurs went on a rampage through the streets of Urumqi, the regional capital, attacking Han civilians; the government said at least 197 people were killed and more than 1,600 were wounded, most of them Han. Overseas Uighur groups say an unknown number of Uighurs were wounded or killed by security forces.
Mr. Zhang said Thursday that a regional work conference this week had drawn up critical development policies, China Daily reported. One was to promote bilingual education in all schools by 2015, especially in southern Xinjiang, so that all students can speak fluent Mandarin by 2020. Another was to move 700,000 urban families to “safer and earthquake-resistant houses” by 2015 and force 100,000 nomads to settle down.
Some of those policies could stoke ethnic tensions. Many Uighurs say so-called bilingual programs in schools are diluting Uighur culture by steering young Uighurs toward the study of Mandarin. In Kashgar, an ancient oasis city, Uighurs are already being forced to move from the old quarters because officials say homes in those neighborhoods are not earthquake-resistant.
The economic policies announced by the central government last week include overhauling tax policies in Xinjiang, encouraging foreign and commercial banks to open branches there, releasing more land for construction, and easing market access for some industries. The goal is to create a “moderately well-off society” in the region by 2020, Chinese leaders say.
The “massive economic support package is significant,” wrote Alistair Thornton, an analyst with IHS Global Insight, an international economic analysis group. However, Mr. Thornton said, “whether breakneck economic development can placate Uighur grievances is uncertain.”