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Party bosses push reset button with Uygurs

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Two years on from riots and mass arrests in the restive western region of Xinjiang, the authorities have launched a public relations campaign with pledges to boost the region's development.

But an international human rights organisation claims that Beijing has continued to silence those speaking out on abuses during and after the unrest.

In a show of ethnic harmony, Xinjiang's party chief paid a high-profile visit to night markets in the regional capital Urumqi on Monday, while its governor pledged to boost the region's economic development, state media reported.

Pictures in newspapers and video on news websites showed Xinjiang Party Secretary Zhang Chunxian talking, toasting and tossing back beers with hawkers and locals at two night markets in Urumqi on Monday night.

Zhang is known for implementing a soft approach in dealing with the Uygurs, the largest of several ethnic groups in the region, who generally resent what they see is discrimination by the dominant Han Chinese who are moving to the region in large numbers.

On July 5, 2009, frustrated Uygurs went on a rampage through the streets of Urumqi, attacking Han Chinese civilians. The government said at least 197 people were killed and more than 1,600 injured in the riots, most of them Han Chinese. Overseas Uygur groups say an unknown number of Uygurs were wounded or killed by security forces.

Zhang was named the region's party secretary in April last year, replacing Wang Lequan, a hardliner who held the post for 15 years, in a move that analysts said paved the way for a new development strategy for the remote region.

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