Beijing: Stability in China's Muslim
majority Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which was shaken by
a deadly riot last year, "remains fragile," a top official
warned on Friday.
"We should be aware that the stability of Xinjiang
remains fragile," Zhang Chunxian, secretary of the Xinjiang
Autonomous Region Committee of the Communist Party of China,
told senior officials.
"There are still many factors from home and abroad
that may affect stability, and the task of maintaining
stability remains tough," Zhang was quoted as saying by the
state-run Xinhua news agency.
The meeting, attended by Xinjiang's high-level
officials and leaders of the regional army and police forces,
concluded that authorities were determined to prevent major
cases involving violence and terror, and large "mass
incidents" -- usually gatherings of people with complaints
that may lead to chaos without proper handling.
The participants at the high level meeting agreed that
the key is rigorously preventing such incidents and striking
hard against splittist and terrorist activities, the report
said.
Xinjiang, with 41.5 percent of its population from
the Uygur ethnic group, borders eight central and west Asian
countries, many of which have been troubled by terrorists and
extremists movements.
In July 2009, 197 people were killed and 1,700 injured
in China's worst riot in Urumqi in decades. Authorities blamed
separatists and extremists for inciting the violence.
In the wake of the riot, the central government ramped
up development drives in the remote, mostly underdeveloped
region with the aim of eliminating the seeds of unrest.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 24, 2010, 21:00