Top legislator calls for promoting Xinjiang's development

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China's top legislator Wu Bangguo has called for promoting "leapfrog development" and "lasting stability" of northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region during his four-day visit of the far western area.

From Thursday to Sunday, Wu toured enterprises, farmland, communities, and met local families in the cities of Hotan, Kashgar, Changji, Shihezi and the regional capital Urumqi.

Efforts should be made to learn the significance of the progress in Xinjiang from a "strategic and overall view," said Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body.

"By utilizing nationwide support, Xinjiang's self-development ability should be strengthened and its resource advantages should be transferred into economic strength," said Wu, also a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

During his visit, Wu showed great concern for the improvement of locals' living conditions such as the construction of low-income housing.

He said "to guarantee housing and employment is key to improving people's livelihoods."

In Hotan, local construction worker Memettohti told Wu that his monthly wage was more than 3,000 yuan (about 460 U.S. dollars), compared with some 600 yuan he earned each month when doing odd jobs. He was one of some 30 locals who were hired by a construction project aided by Beijing Municipality after receiving a six-month training of working and language skills.

At a Hotan kindergarten that teaches in both Uygur language and putonghua, or standard Chinese, Wu was told that some children with bilingual skills could help their Uygur-speaking parents to translate in everyday life.

Wu said bilingual education is vital to promoting exchanges among different ethnic groups in Xinjiang and helping create more job opportunities.

When visiting a walnut-growing base in Hotan, Wu said fruit and cotton production, an agriculture pillar of Xinjiang, should be accelerated by adopting new technology, extending industrial chain, enhancing competitiveness of farm products and strengthening overall agricultural production capability.

Xinjiang's agricultural development should feature "a new path of water conservation and efficiency," he said.

During a tour to Xinjiang Tiansheng Corporation, a textile printing and dyeing factory, Wu urged the enterprise to increase the recycling of waste water to reduce environmental pollution.

"The key to realizing Xinjiang's leapfrog development is to upgrade traditional industries, and promote clean production and comprehensive utilization of resources, in order to lay a solid foundation for the region's sustainable development," Wu said.

While visiting new energy high-tech enterprises, Wu said the firms should make contribution to the nation's new and clean energy strategy through continuous innovation.

"Efforts should be made to follow new trends of global industrial development and make full use of advantages as a late comer," he said.

He also said the building of the special economic zones of Kashgar and Horgos, which border countries including Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kazakhstan, should be a good chance for transforming Xinjiang into China's important base for opening up westwards.