President Hu Jintao has identified Tibet , Xinjiang and the wealth gap as the three issues that must be given top priority by the central government in the coming years.
Hu has mentioned the three several times recently, including at two Politburo meetings and two high-profile central work conferences on Tibet and Xinjiang, according to officials familiar with the situation.
'We must firmly grasp the work on Tibet, Xinjiang and the reform of the distribution system now, and make and sustain significant progress in these areas in the next few years,' an official quoted Hu as telling the internal meetings. The official is involved in the drafting of a 10-year development blueprint for the western region, which covers the autonomous regions where the Tibetans and Uygurs are prominent. The current plan will expire at the end of this year and another one will replace it.
In the speeches, Hu described distribution system reform as a 'long-term mission but an urgent task'.
This year Hu has chaired Politburo meetings, one each, on the riot-scarred regions. The leadership has also convened two separate high-level central work conferences on the regions. The Tibet conference was in January and the Xinjiang one in April.
The central government plans to convene another high-level meeting on the reform of the distribution system late this year, the officials said. Hu attached as much significance to the tackling of the widening income gap as to the ethnic minority issues, seeing the trio as potential triggers of social unrest, they said.
The two regional conferences were also attended by all Politburo members, central ministers and regional party chiefs and government heads.