Chinese leader Xi Jinping doubles down on ‘social stability’ as top priority for Xinjiang while pushing economic development

Chinese President Xi Jinping has doubled down on “social stability” as a top priority for Xinjiang, calling for greater efforts against terrorism and religious extremism during a stop in the far western region. Xi also highlighted the need for economic development after touching down in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi on Saturday during his return from the annual Brics summit in South Africa, Chinese state media reported. “Maintaining social stability needs to be the utmost priority,” Xi said in a meeting with regional government officials and cadres, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “There needs to be coordination and combined efforts on the work to strengthen stability and promote development,” Xi said, complimenting officials on their work. Xinjiang officials pledge to fight efforts to ‘use region to contain China’ He emphasised the “unique importance” of Xinjiang in the “big picture of China’s nation-building and national rejuvenation”. He also called for “optimising the mechanism to defuse risks and hidden dangers”, and to incorporate “anti-terrorism and anti-secession” work into the region’s pro-stability policies. He said efforts to “Sinicise” Islam and “effectively manage all kinds of illegal religious activities” should be deepened, and officials should make it their priority to promote the “unity of the identity of the Chinese nationality” in all policies and laws. Xi detailed his economic objectives for Xinjiang, calling for innovation in science and technology and the modernisation of industries such as agriculture and solar energy. He said the “standard Chinese language” would continue to be taught and promoted. He also called for an increase in the flow of workers in and out of the region. Xi said there should be “positive promotion” of Xinjiang to curb “false, negative and harmful” rhetoric about the region. He added that Xinjiang’s tourism industry should be expanded “to encourage tourists from both inside and outside the country to visit the region”. “The strategic position of Xinjiang in the entire development of the country must be tightly held,” Xi said. Western countries and human rights groups have accused Beijing of demolishing mosques and detaining at least 1 million Uygurs and members of other Muslim ethnic minority groups in internment camps. However, Beijing says the centres are for “vocational training” to eradicate “terrorism, separatism and religious extremism”. The government has defended the success of its efforts to increase stability and reduce poverty in the region. Xi was last seen in Xinjiang during a two-day visit in July last year, his first trip to the region in eight years. During the trip, he reportedly made several stops at sites including a resident’s home, a museum, a land port and Xinjiang University. While there, he emphasised long-term stability, “economic development of a high quality” and the transformation of the region into a gateway to Central Asia and Europe. Alfred Wu, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said Xi’s latest visit struck a different tone to his previous visit, which took place in the lead-up to his third term confirmed in late October. “Back then, the aim was more to showcase his success on policies in the region by being surrounded by civilians and visiting places related to social development,” Wu said. “His latest visit was more of a systemic cement of his achievements, as he was giving the directions and policies in a detailed and clear manner,” Wu said. Wu said Xi’s emphasis on stability in Xinjiang reflected his priorities for his third term, which officially kicked off this year. “From Xinjiang to the national level, Xi is governing with the same model – regime stability is always number one,” Wu said. “The latest policy developments are very much in line with the view that the emphasis on security and regime stability would be a very long term and overarching framework in his third term.” In December 2021, Beijing named former Guangdong governor Ma Xingrui as party chief for the region. Grow grains, not cotton: 1 year after US’ Xinjiang ban, China shifts focus Xinjiang, once the world’s largest producer of cotton, has faced export sanctions under the US Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act, which went into effect last June. It has effectively blocked American imports of all products wholly or partially sourced from Xinjiang, citing concerns over the alleged use of forced labour. Xie Maosong, a senior researcher at the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said Beijing’s continuous emphasis on stability was partly to send a message that China is determined to improve the region. “Xinjiang is not any other place in China but has been at the core of US coercion policies and has always been defamed by the American-led Western narrative,” Xie said. “Yet China will continue to uphold its legitimate and fundamental policy that stability can only be achieved by both security and economic development.”