Senior officials intensify focus on religion and use of Chinese in Xinjiang

Senior officials who travelled to Xinjiang with Xi Jinping have remained in the far western region to focus on religious affairs and the increased use of standard Chinese following the president’s return to Beijing.

On Thursday, during a visit to Korla in central Xinjiang, Wang Huning, the country’s fourth-ranking official, urged Xinjiang – particularly its southern regions – to improve “education in the national standard spoken and written language”, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Southern Xinjiang has historically been a hotbed of ethnic tensions and saw a series of terrorist attacks around a decade ago, which the central authorities said were motivated by religious extremism.

Wang, who chairs the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the political advisory body whose responsibilities include the oversight of ethnic and religious affairs, was among the senior officials who travelled with Xi to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Xi was the first Chinese president to travel to such an event, something Xinhua said underscored the great significance Beijing attached to the region.

The state news agency added that Wang and other senior officials from the central delegation carried out six different inspection tours on Thursday with a focus on Xi’s drive to maintain social stability in the region.

These included State Councillor Shen Yiqin, who used a visit to Karamay, a centre of the oil industry in northern Xinjiang, to urge the local authorities to “consolidate the sense of community of the Chinese nation in a tangible, perceptible and effective manner”.

South China Morning Post