China touts Xinjiang at trade forum, spotlighting a region once marked by detention centers
ALTAY, China — China is hosting an international conference in Xinjiang to support economic development efforts in the northwestern region known as the site of mass detention of ethnic minorities.
The International Conference on Trans-Altai Subregional Cooperation, held in Altai city on Wednesday, includes officials from Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia and other countries to discuss trade and economic cooperation in the landlocked region. China plans to develop coal, oil and gas, cotton and other industries in Xinjiang.
“Xinjiang has become a vivid example of China’s rapid economic development, fully reflecting the significant advantages and vitality of Chinese governance,” said Chen Xiaojiang, secretary of the Xinjiang Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Chen said there are also plans for a number of major infrastructure projects in the region, including more rail and flights.
Like many other provinces in China’s west, Xinjiang is poorer than its industrial east coast. The per capita income of rural residents of the province was 13,052 yuan in 2020, while rural residents of China’s rich province of Zhejiang had an income of 31,930 yuan in 2020.
Economic inequality in the region is one of the forces driving turmoil that has resulted in attacks by a small number of extremists among Uyghurs. China has imprisoned a million or more people from ethnic minority groups, mostly Uyghurs, as of 2017. The government said the detentions were in response to the attacks.
China has said it has closed most of its detention centers by 2021, but at least a few camps have been converted into facilities that serve as prisons. Information leaked to The Associated Press showed that thousands of Uyghurs were imprisoned on long sentences on what experts said were fabricated or exaggerated charges.
Activists say forced participation in government job programs for those outside prison, especially in parts of southern Xinjiang with large Uyghur populations, is common and has increased in China’s latest five-year economic plan, according to human rights group Global Rights Compliance.
The Chinese government has previously said what it calls “anti-China forces” are exaggerating problems in Xinjiang by making it appear that authorities’ counterterrorism and counter-extremism efforts target specific ethnic, regional or religious groups.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.
