The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region's top disciplinary inspector accused some Party members of participating in terrorist activities, a newspaper affiliated with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China (CPC) reported on Tuesday.
"Certain Party members made irresponsible remarks on decisions made by their superiors, some of which are opposed to the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and Xinjiang regional committee," according to an essay written by Xu Hairong, head of the Xinjiang Discipline Inspection Commission, on the China Discipline Inspection News.
"Some are double-tongued about significant issues on anti-separatism, ethnic unity and national unification," Xu said.
A Xinjiang-based expert who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Tuesday that a few grassroots and middle-rank officials of ethnic minority groups are ambivalent about the anti-separatism campaign, despite being faced with terrorism, extremism and separatism as well as pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism.
"Some grassroots may be inclined to provoke terrorist activities while some middle-rank officials, who better understand pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism, tend to advocate separatism," he said.
He was referring to several village Party secretaries who led villagers in a terrorist attack in Xinjiang.
Extem Helil, a local official in Wensu county, Aksu prefecture in the South of Xinjiang was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in 2013 for sharing downloaded documents that advocate jihad and incite ethnic hatred, news site legaldaily.com.cn reported.
Zhao Xinwei, the editor-in-chief of the Urumqi-based Xinjiang Daily, was expelled from the Party and removed from his post in early November, for making "groundless comments" on the nation's major decisions, earlier media said.
Zhao's remarks were also found to be inconsistent with the central and local Party's stand on significant issues, including ethnic separatism, terrorism and religious extremism.
The CPC Xinjiang regional committee has repeatedly said what Party members think and how they act should be "highly consistent" with the central and regional committees.
"Supervision over Party members' political stand and performance in anti-terrorism work should be prioritized," Liu Xinyan, a deputy head of the Discipline Inspection Commission in Xinjiang, said in November 2014, news site chinanews.com reported.
The mindset of Party members was not given much importance until the anti-terrorism situation becomes "grim," Pan Zhiping, a research fellow at the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Xinjiang police defeated a terrorist group in the Chinese region, killing 28 of its members, the Xinhua News Agency reported on November 20.
Pan said some ethnic minorities may misunderstand the ethnic policies and are easily attracted by separatists and extremists, although their policies, which aim to enhance ethnic unity and national unification, are fundamentally proper.
"Hostile forces took advantage of conflicts over the uneven economic development to exaggerate social divergence and incite violence," La Disheng, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Xinjiang Regional Party Committee, told the Global Times.
Party members should be constantly lectured on political disciplines, a program to be incorporated into their training, said Xu's article.
Party members and officials of ethnic minority groups should be fully aware of their tasks - they not only represent their ethnic groups, but also the country and the government to safeguard national unity, according to La.
"It is necessary to transform the work style of the local government in Xinjiang to win over and unite the masses, since hostile forces are also vying for the loyalty of government officials," La said.
Some prisoners who participated in terrorist activities have been asked by the local government to give an account of how they were deceived by terrorists and extremists, an approach that can also be adopted to educate officials, Pan suggested.
