New Xinjiang party chief pledges to follow President Xi Jinping’s policy on the sensitive region

Former governor of Guangdong province Ma Xingrui tells leadership meeting he will work to maintain social stability and public order, in keeping with Xi’s aims

His predecessor, Chen Quanguo, is the most senior target for US sanctions over China’s treatment of Uygurs and other ethnic minority groups in the region

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Ma Xingrui will take over as party chief of the Xinjiang region. The US hit his predecessor and other Xinjiang officials with sanctions over the crackdown on Uygur Muslims and other minorities. Photo: Edward Wong

Published: 9:00pm, 27 Dec 2021Updated: 10:13pm, 27 Dec 2021

The new party chief of China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has pledged to maintain social stability and public order, indicating there will be little change to how the sensitive border region is run.

Ma Xingrui vowed he would follow President Xi Jinping’s Xinjiang policy focusing on long-term stability and “economic development of a high quality” although he did not give specifics, Xinjiang Daily, the official newspaper of the region’s party committee, reported on Sunday.

The 62-year-old was the top official in Shenzhen, the metropolis in the southern Guangdong province, from 2015 to 2016. He was promoted to the province’s deputy governor, and in 2017 he became governor – or second-in-command – of Guangdong province.

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After Ma’s promotion to the top spot in Xinjiang, Shenzhen’s party secretary, Wang Weizhong, was made acting Guangdong governor on Monday.

“We have to steadfastly sustain long-term stability in Xinjiang’s society and must not let this stability – which did not come easy – to be undone,” Ma said at his first leadership meeting as Xinjiang party secretary on Saturday.

He spent most of his speech emphasising that he would implement Xi’s ideas and plans for Xinjiang, including a vow to maintain a “good political standard” for cadres, an allusion to Xi’s oft-repeated policy of tightening discipline around party and government officials.

Chen Quanguo, Ma’s predecessor, told the meeting he completely embraced and would absolutely abide by the decision by the party’s Central Committee to reshuffle the leadership of Xinjiang.