9月29日早间英文播报：Xi hails major progress made in Xinjiang

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Jujube farmers harvest their produce inHami, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, earlier this month. POLAT NIYAZ/FORCHINA DAILY

Developmentkey foundation for region's long-term social stability, president says

President Xi Jinping has underlined theimportance of upholding lasting peace and stability in the Xinjiang Uygurautonomous region, saying development is the crucial foundation for theregion's long-term social stability.

Xi, who is also general secretary of theCommunist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central MilitaryCommission, made the remarks at a two-day central symposium on work related toXinjiang, which concluded on Saturday in Beijing. It was the third suchsymposium since 2010, with the previous one taking place in 2014.

Xi demanded law-based governance overXinjiang and long-term efforts to develop it into a region that is united,harmonious, prosperous, culturally advanced and environmentally friendly, withits people enjoying their life and work.

He stressed the need to fully implement theParty's policies and strategies on governing Xinjiang in the new era, whichinclude promoting high-quality growth in the region, improving people'slivelihoods and maintaining stability in the region through ethnic solidarity.

Saying that people of all ethnic groups inXinjiang are members of the great family of the Chinese nation, Xi called forconstantly strengthening ethnic unity. Education on the identity of the Chinesenation should be strengthened among the general public so that they willdevelop a correct understanding of the country, history, ethnicity, culture andreligion, he added.

In terms of Xinjiang's economicdevelopment, he said the region should leverage its geographical advantages todevelop as a core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and align itself with thenation's opening-up strategy.

Xi urged efforts to consolidate thefoundation and increase the efficiency of the industrial sector in Xinjiang,advance industrial transformation and upgrading, and boost urbanization in anall-around way while protecting the environment.

He also underscored the need to coordinateprevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic with social and economicdevelopment in Xinjiang with a focus on poverty elimination and the promotionof employment.

Xinjiang has recently seen unprecedentedsocioeconomic development, with its people becoming better off. Since the lastcentral symposium on work related to Xinjiang in 2014, the country has beenstrengthening support to the region both from the central government and otherregions to help it develop its economy, employment, education, healthcare andother sectors.

Its gross domestic product has increasedfrom less than 920 billion yuan ($135 billion) in 2014 to 1.36 trillion yuan by2019, with an average annual increase of 7.2 percent.

Abdulyokem Roz, a villager from Ayagemanganin Shufu county, was a tractor driver six years ago. He made a living byhelping others to plow farmland and harvest crops, and his family's annualincome was about 10,000 yuan.

When Xi was on an inspection tour inXinjiang in April 2014, he visited Abdulyokem's home. "He just wanted tosee if the country's policies to improve people's livelihoods had truly takeneffect," Abdulyokem said about Xi's visit.

Povertyrelief efforts

Thanks to a local government initiative toincrease the income of villagers with insufficient farmland, the yearly incomeof Abdulyokem's family increased to 100,000 yuan in 2019 by raising cows andpigeons.

Poverty eradication in Xinjiang has alsowitnessed remarkable achievements. By 2019, more than 2.92 million people hadbeen lifted out of poverty in the region, accounting for more than 10 percentof its population.

At the symposium, Xi called for efforts toimprove mechanisms to prevent people who have been lifted out of poverty frombecoming poor again and help them develop sustainably, and to strengthen thesynergy between poverty elimination and the rural vitalization strategy.

In mid-September, China released a whitepaper titled "Employment and Labor Rights in Xinjiang", which saidthat through proactive labor and employment policies, the region hascontinuously improved people's lives and guaranteed and developed their humanrights in every field.

Musarjan Nurdun, Party secretary ofTuowankewen, a village in Yining county, said people's sense of security andgain has been significantly boosted in recent years. Now people of all ethnicgroups in Xinjiang understand the importance of social stability as they haveall benefited from it, he said.

Ma Pinyan, a researcher at the XinjiangAcademy of Social Sciences, said Xi's remark about increasing the sense of theidentity of the Chinese nation is crucial in achieving lasting stability inXinjiang. In addition, making the region prosper is particularly important whenits economy is likely to suffer from sanctions imposed by some countries, hesaid.

Despite the constant and groundless attackson Xinjiang's effective efforts to combat religious extremism and terrorism bycertain Western countries and media, the region has successfully curbed thespread of religious extremism and the frequent occurrence of terrorist attackssince 2014, Ma said.

"We should be confident when tellingthe world about the changes in Xinjiang because slandering China's policies onXinjiang will always be a political tool for some, and Xinjiang's prosperityand stability are the last things they want to see," he said.

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记者：曹德胜、崔佳

播报：Ian Goodrum

原文链接：

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202009/28/WS5f711ee9a31024ad0ba7c326_1.html