Media savvy softens Xinjiang secretary's hardline stance

Xinjiang Communist Party secretary Zhang Chunxian has a few tricks he uses when dealing with the media, and his methods have seemingly freed him from harsh criticism and even helped him get promotion.

About 100 journalists rushed to surround Zhang for further interviews after a question-and-answer session for the media concluded at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 7, on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress.

Widely known as a media-savvy official, Zhang always wears a smile and is willing to address all types of questions from journalists, even in chaotic situations such as one that resulted when he as mobbed by many reporters.

A cameraman with a Hong Kong television station fell from the top of a table and sprained his ankle as reporters and photographers jostled for a better position to ask Zhang questions and catch his remarks.

When the messy interview had come to an end, Zhang asked whether the cameraman was OK and said he could ask another question, which the cameraman declined.

The cameraman later said members of the Xinjiang delegation helped him further, taking him to their hotel in a wheelchair and offering to pay for a medical check-up and treatment. And Zhang ordered a propaganda official to call him when he recovered, to extend Zhang's regards.