BEIJING: Xinjiang has made historic achievements in all undertakings over the past 70 years, a senior regional official said on Friday.
The region is experiencing its best period of development in its history, marked by the most profound changes and greatest benefits to date for people of all ethnic groups, said Erkin Tuniyaz, chairman of the regional government.
The official made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing, where a white paper on the governance of Xinjiang was released.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Located in northwest China, the region is home to more than 26 million people from dozens of ethnic groups.
Multiple economic indicators in Xinjiang are among the fastest-rising nationwide, said Chen Weijun, vice chairman of the regional government.
In 2024, the region recorded a 6.9 percent increase in fixed-asset investment, 8 percent growth in value-added industrial output from enterprises above designated size, and a 10.5 percent rise in general public budget revenue, Chen said.
Overall, the region’s GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 7.04 percent since 2012. In 2024, it expanded by 6.1 percent, surpassing 2 trillion yuan (about 281.4 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time, according to officials. China’s GDP grew 5 percent year on year in 2024.
The region’s robust economic growth has provided strong fiscal support for the improvement of the people’s well-being, Erkin Tuniyaz said.
“In the past, the streets were jammed with donkey carts in Hotan,” said Erkin Tuniyaz, who used to work in Hotan Prefecture in southern Xinjiang.
“Today, donkey carts belong to museums. Families get around on e-bikes, motorcycles or cars — and some families even have several cars,” he said.
Households also own more washing machines, refrigerators and computers than they did in 2012, according to the white paper.
Xinjiang was once among the most impoverished regions in China. Thanks to a nationwide poverty-reduction campaign launched in 2012, all 3.06 million rural residents living in poverty in the region had been lifted out of poverty by the end of 2020, Erkin Tuniyaz said.
Officials say that this historic achievement put an end to the absolute poverty that had gripped the region for millennia.
Travel has also become more convenient for people in Xinjiang thanks to comprehensive improvements in the region’s infrastructure.
All prefectures and over 90 percent of the counties in Xinjiang are now accessible by highway, while the length of railways in the region totaled 9,202 kilometers as of 2024 — nearly double the 2012 figure, according to the white paper.
Today, when traveling across the sprawling land of mountains, deserts and oases, many people find that the region’s best buildings are its schools.
Basic education has become fairer and higher in quality, said Wang Jianxin, the official in charge of publicity in the region.
Since 2012, 47.9 billion yuan in fiscal education funding has been invested to improve the facilities of primary and secondary schools in Xinjiang, according to the official.
Today, there is one kindergarten for every 106 children in Xinjiang, and one primary school for every 817 students, he added.
Significant progress has also been made in combating desertification. The Taklimakan Desert is now encircled by a sand-blocking green belt stretching 3,046 kilometers — the longest in the world.
And the region’s total oasis area has expanded by 56.6 percent over the past three decades, according to the white paper.
People plant economic crops such as red dates in the desert, which both prevent sand encroachment and increase their incomes, Erkin Tuniyaz said. “The people of Xinjiang are genuinely reaping the benefits of ecological conservation.”
