“It is better to see something for yourself than merely hear about it a hundred times. We invite everyone to come and see and experience Xinjiang for themselves. Then share what they have seen, heard, and experienced of the reality of Xinjiang’s steady prosperity, delightful and beautiful environment with the rest of the world,” Chen Quanguo, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said on April 12 during the open delegation meeting held at the Xinjiang Hall of the Great Hall of the People.
The “open day” drew over 230 journalists from 167 domestic and foreign media outlets to listen to the deputies from Xinjiang answer the various questions from domestic and foreign journalists regarding their work for poverty alleviation, tourism development, Belt and Road Initiative, etc. Let us take a look at what they said.
How to Win the Battle against Poverty in Xinjiang
Shewket Imin, an official with the Xinjiang regional committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said that in the past few years, the work of eliminating poverty in the Xinjiang region has made great progress, successfully lifting 537,000 people out of poverty in 2018, transforming 513 poverty stricken villages. As a result, the poverty incident ratio for the whole region was reduced by 6.51 percent, a reduction of 5.01 percentage points from 2017. But when we look at comprehensive factors, the numbers of the poverty-stricken population in the Xinjiang Region is high. Our responsibility is especially heavy for eliminating extreme poverty in areas like Hotan, Kashgar, and Akesu. To this end, Xinjiang has designed a comprehensive program for poverty alleviation. First, we have intensified targeted poverty alleviation measures, and lift people up out of poverty through employment transfer, developing industries, implementing ecological compensation, and providing comprehensive social security. Second, we focus on our weak areas by stepping up efforts in poverty alleviation via education, poverty alleviation by ensuring medical security, and infrastructure construction. Third, improved allocation of resources is done by utilizing a big data management platform.
How to Realize an All Year Round Tourism
Peng Jiarui, deputy chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Government, said tourism is the most promising and key industry in Xinjiang. Tourists made 150 million visits to Xinjiang in 2018, resulting in a tourism revenue of RMB 257.971 billion, an increase of more than 40 percent year-on-year. Tourism employment reached 1.7672 million, up 21.80 percent year-on-year. It can also be said that summer tourism is as hot as the summer heat, winter tourism is flourishing, and festival holiday tourism is also busy, in other words, tourism is at peak season all year round. Social stability in Xinjiang has also further enhanced its attraction for tourists.
Peng Jiarui also said that the goal for 2019 is to realize an increase of over 40 percent in terms of both the total number of domestic and foreign tourists and the tourism revenue.
How to Seize the Opportunities Brought by the Belt and Road Initiative
Wang Gang, deputy chairmen to the Municipal Party committee of Karamay, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region said that Xinjiang has been implementing the decisions reached during the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation over the last few years, making great strides in attracting investment and going global. Steps have been taken to make trade more convenient, establishing a new trend in opening up the central region of Xinjiang to the world. Karamay, as an important national base for petroleum and petrochemical resources and a key node city in the core area of the Silk Road economic belt, is stepping up its efforts on policy coordination, facility connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds with related countries. We will give full play to the role of Karamay in international Internet data dedicated channels to achieve win-win cooperation in the regional economy.
Major Measures Taken to Maintain Social Stability of Xinjiang
Shuckletti Zarkerl, a member of the CPC Central Committee and deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said that preventing terrorism and maintaining social stability is the focus of global concern, and Xinjiang, along with other parts of the world, has suffered much in the past from it. In recent years, Xinjiang has adhered to the general goal of pursuing social stability and long-term peace, and cracked down on violence and terrorism by establishing law-based governance, unifying the people of the region, and making long-term plans for the stable development of Xinjiang. We also rely on the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang to effectively and resolutely safeguard social stability. Through exchanges of the people of all ethnic groups, Xinjiang is realizing ethnic unity, and through the joint efforts of the people of all ethnic groups, Xinjiang has enjoyed social stability and a favorable development. As a result, this sustained stability has also created favorable conditions for Xinjiang's economic development and improved the lives of the people of all ethnic groups in the region. For example, the booming tourism benefits from social stability. At the same time, we should be soberly aware of the current international counter-terrorism situation. Violence and terrorism are still very active, thus making combating terrorism and separatism our long-term task.
