The Chinese Government on September 21 published a white paper on development and progress in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, stressing that national unification, ethnic unity and social stability are the "lifeblood" of the region.

The paper, released by the State Council Information Office, reviewed the profound changes that have taken place over the past 60 years in Xinjiang, which accounts for about one sixth of the country's land territory.

It also slammed "East Turkistan" forces for seriously disrupting Xinjiang's development and progress by trumpeting separatism and plotting and organizing a number of bloody incidents of terror and violence.

The great development and progress "should be attributed to the concerted efforts by all peoples of Xinjiang under the banner of solidarity of all ethnic groups, as well as to the success of China's policies on ethnic minorities," it said.

The local gross domestic product in 2008 stood at 420.3 billion yuan ($61.8 billion), which was 86 times higher than that recorded in 1952, three years before the establishment of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The region grew at an annual average of 8.3 percent, it said.

From 1950 to 2008, the Central Government invested 386.2 billion yuan ($56.8 billion) in Xinjiang, accounting for 26 percent of the total investment in the region, it said.

A good deal of progress was also made in areas including education, science, the arts, health and medical services, employment, social security, as well as the preservation of ethnic cultures, according to the paper.

In Xinjiang, citizens of every ethnic group enjoy the rights prescribed by the Constitution and laws, including freedom of religious belief, and the rights to vote and stand for election, it said.

The Constitution and laws also grant the rights to equally administer state affairs, to receive education, to use and develop their own spoken and written languages, and to preserve and advance the traditional culture of their own peoples, according to the paper.

In 1955, 46,000 of Xinjiang's cadres were from ethnic minorities. That number shot up to 363,000 in 2008 and accounted for 51 percent of Xinjiang's total, it said.

Most members of Xinjiang's 10 major ethnic minority groups, now totaling more than 11.3 million, believe in Islam.

The number of Islamic mosques has soared from 2,000 in the early 1980s to 24,300 now, and the body of clergy has risen from 3,000 to over 28,000, according to the paper.

"All these achievements would have been impossible for Xinjiang without national unification, social stability or ethnic unity," the paper said.

But for years "East Turkistan" forces both inside and outside Xinjiang have been trumpeting national separatism, and have plotted and organized a number of bloody incidents of terror and violence, seriously jeopardizing national unification, social stability and ethnic unity, thus seriously disrupting Xinjiang's development and progress, it said.

"East Turkistan" forces have seriously violated the basic human rights to life and development that are the right of all the peoples of Xinjiang. They have seriously interrupted the region's economic development and posed a threat to regional security and stability.

According to incomplete statistics from 1990 to 2001, "East Turkistan" forces both inside and outside China created more than 200 bloody incidents of terror and violence in Xinjiang by means of explosion, assassination, poisoning, arson, attacking, rioting and assaults, it said.

In 2002, the separatists again organized several bloody incidents of terror and violence in Xinjiang. The recent July 5 riot in Urumqi caused huge losses in lives and property of people from various ethnic groups, it said.

"It has become clearer for the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang that national unification, ethnic unity and social stability, plus the coexistence and harmonious development of all peoples who share weal and woe are the lifeblood for the region's development and progress," the paper said.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)

White Paper on Development and Progress in Xinjiang

Foreword

I. Swift Economic Development

II. Remarkable Improvement in People's

Lives

III. Steady Development of Social Programs

IV. Preservation of Ethnic Cultures

V. Upholding Ethnic Equality and Unity

VI. Protecting Citizens' Rights of Freedom of Religious Belief

VII. Safeguarding National Unity and Social Stability

Conclusion