Xinjiang to foster grass roots

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is expected to see unprecedented 200,000 officials working at the grass-roots level over the coming three years in an effort to improve people's livelihoods as well as regional stability.

Several government organs, including the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Regional People's Congress, had selected the first batch of officials by Tuesday. The final list of names will be ready by March 5, local media reported.

This came after the region's Party chief Zhang Chunxian's announcement on February 14 that all 200,000 officials would participate in the campaign which "leaves no blanks" in its coverage of around 10,000 villages and communities in Xinjiang.

Some 10,000 officials will take turns to work in villages in southern Xinjiang's Hotan, Aksu, Kashi and Kezilesu Kirgiz. Other officials, along with the PLA and armed police, will also offer assistance to villages, key communities and State-owned farms.

The move is an aspect to come out of President Xi Jinping's remarks in December 2013, which emphasized the significance of winning people's support in promoting Xinjiang's development, said Turgunjan Tursun, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences.

"The support from local residents, especially from ethnic minority groups, is fundamental for maintaining stability, as it would eradicate the social foundation for violence and separatism," Tursun said.

Xinjiang witnessed at least seven terrorist attacks and two riots in 2013. In the most recent attack, which occurred on Friday in Wushi county of Aksu prefecture, eight terrorists were killed by police and three others committed suicide.

Yu Jin, executive director of the China Region Development and Reform Institute, said that given the unstable incidents, the program launched in Xinjiang should be echoed in other provinces as the nation deepens its mass line campaign.

He added that he hoped the officials working with the local people would not try to disturb their daily lives.

"Many policies of central and regional governments were not well carried out at the grass-roots level and we could expect the dispatched senior officials to oversee future policy implementation and help solve public problems," Tursun added.