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Ma Xingrui (third from left) meets workers at a civil service centre in the Guyuan community of Tianshan district in Urumqi on Monday. Photo: Xinjiang Daily

Xinjiang’s new party chief calls for efforts to boost supply chains and improve international business

  • Ma Xingrui says more needs to be done to promote investment in the region and support enterprises
  • Remarks come after US president signed into law a ban on imports from Xinjiang over concerns about forced labour
Xinjiang
Xinjiang’s new Communist Party secretary Ma Xingrui called for efforts to modernise the region’s supply chains and improve the international business environment, as he made his first tour of the capital, Urumqi, on Monday.
His remarks came after US President Joe Biden last week signed into law a measure banning virtually all imports from Xinjiang over concerns about forced labour. The far western region has a key role in the global supply of polysilicon, which is used to make solar panels, and is a major source of cotton.
China is under growing international pressure – including sanctions against officials, blacklisting of companies and other measures – over alleged human rights abuses against Uygurs and other Muslim minorities in the region. Beijing says its policies are designed to combat extremism and has denied US accusations of carrying out “genocide” or using forced labour in Xinjiang.
Ma Xingrui has taken over as party chief of Xinjiang after five years as Guangdong governor. Photo: Edward Wong
Ma took over as Xinjiang party chief on Saturday, replacing Chen Quanguo, who has been targeted by foreign sanctions over the crackdown.

During a visit to the Urumqi Economic and Technological Development Zone on Monday, Ma said the region should actively serve and integrate into the belt and road infrastructure plan, according to the official Xinjiang Daily.

He also said supply chains needed to be modernised and conditions for doing business internationally should be improved, including through tax breaks.

“It is necessary to increase the promotion of investment … implement measures to support enterprises and stimulate innovation,” he was quoted as saying.

For the past five years, Ma has been governor of Guangdong province – a manufacturing hub in the south and the country’s top exporter – and he is expected to focus on the business environment in Xinjiang.

The new party chief said maintaining long-term stability remained a “general goal”, with a focus on balancing “development and security” in the region.

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

Products are packaged at a polysilicon company in Xinjiang. Polysilicon, used to make solar panels, is among the goods designated “high priority” for enforcement action under a new US import ban. Photo: Xinhua

The region’s economic development and international trade are expected to be a focus for Ma, especially since the US import ban was signed into law, according to Beijing-based political analyst Wu Qiang.

Key to the US legislation passed last week, which will go into effect in June, is a “rebuttable presumption” that assumes all goods from Xinjiang are made with forced labour. It bars imports unless it can be proven otherwise, with some goods – such as cotton, tomatoes and polysilicon – designated “high priority” for enforcement action.

Wu said Ma would be looking to counter that pressure.

“Ma’s mission is different – it’s a shift from anti-terrorism to place more emphasis on development,” Wu said. “I believe it’s a countermove against the pressure from the US ban. It appears that Beijing is trying to encourage exports from Xinjiang to Europe, and to boost its status in the global supply chain.”

Trade with Europe is increasing, according to the region’s latest customs figures released on Monday. Xinjiang recorded around 261.8 billion yuan (US$41.1 billion) in foreign trade with European Union nations in the first 11 months of this year, up 30 per cent from 2020, the figures showed.

In the same period, the region exported 158 billion yuan worth of mechanical and electrical products to EU nations, a jump of 32.9 per cent from the previous year.

Meanwhile, there was also a 29.2 per cent increase in imports of mechanical and electrical products from the EU, according to the customs data.

“During the period, the exports of raw plastics, electric vehicles and polysilicon have doubled. Among exported labour-intensive products, plastic products, shoes and furniture have seen significant growth,” Sun Tao, deputy director of the statistics and analysis department at Urumqi customs, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Xinjiang land ports also saw a significant jump in China-Europe freight train trips from January to November. Some 11,156 freight train trips were recorded, up 26.8 per cent from the previous year, according to the customs figures.

Yang Shu, former dean at the Institute for Central Asian Studies at Lanzhou University, said the growth in land freight with European nations suggested the region’s status as a gateway region had improved, but noted that it was partly due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global shipping.
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