Uighur leader youngest member of Xinjiang’s delegation to NPC

Wearing an embroidered cap signalling her Uighur ethnicity, Rehangul Yimir’s presence in the Great Hall of the People symbolises Beijing’s efforts to gloss over simmering frictions among its disparate peoples.

According to official figures Xinjiang is 46 per cent Uighur - who speak a Turkic language and are mostly Muslim - and 39 per cent Han Chinese, after millions moved to the area in recent decades.

Relations between them are often tense and riots rocked Xinjiang, which is twice the size of Turkey and rich in oil and gas, in 2009, when about 200 people died.

But Yimir, who at 24 is the youngest member of Xinjiang’s delegation to the National People’s Congress (NPC), is proud to uphold Beijing’s banner of ethnic harmony, and expresses a keen interest in policy for the country’s legions of migrant workers.

“I’m satisfied” with the central government’s efforts on the issue, she said, praising what she called measures to promote opportunities for her people to work in other parts of China.

The Communist Party line at the NPC, which ends on Sunday, is to stress warmth between China’s 55 ethnic minorities and the Han majority, who comprise 91 per cent of the population of 1.35 billion.