Xinjiang's Party chief wages 'people's war' against terrorism

Police vehicles parade in Urumqi in China's Northwest Xinjiang region on May 23, 2014. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - Xinjiang's Party chief Zhang Chunxian has declared "a people's war" against terrorism.

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In a lengthy signed article in the People's Daily on Monday, Zhang, secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), promised to "safeguard stability and resolutely prevent malignant violence and terrorist attacks" in the region.

The article comes after a number of fatal attacks in Xinjiang last month. Three people were killed and 79 injured on April 30 at a railway station in Urumqi, the regional capital. An attack on a market, also in Urumqi, left 39 dead and 94 injured on Thursday morning.

Xinjiang will "carry out special campaigns against violence and terrorism ... by adopting firm, decisive and efficient measures," wrote Zhang, who is a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Xinjiang will "promote the eradication of extremism, further expose and criticize the 'reactionary nature' of the 'three forces, ' enhance schools' capacity to resist ideological infiltration by religious extremism, and resolutely win the ideological battle against separation and infiltration."

The official asked people in Xinjiang to become clear-minded, firmly fend against infiltration by ethnic separatism and religious extremism, and safeguard national unity and social stability.

Zhang admitted that the struggle against separatism will be "long-term, complicated and acute" and sometimes could become "very intense."

"Violent terrorist attacks have become the most immediate and realistic peril to social stability in Xinjiang. ... Safeguarding stability should become a matter of prime importance and a long-term task for the work of Xinjiang."

According to the official, Xinjiang will strengthen cooperation with the interior part of the country in an effort to improve China's anti-terrorism network.

To cope with increasing threats posed by terrorist attacks, the autonomous region will strengthen management over dangerous and explosive items and raise its capacity to deal with emergencies, according to the official.

Zhang called for the thorough implementation of the Party's fundamental religious policies and strengthened management of religious affairs in accordance with the law

The region will launch special campaigns to regulate illegal religious activities, crack down on criminal offences by religious extremists in accordance with law, and guide religions to accommodate a socialist society.

Zhang also pledged the full implementation of the CPC's ethnic policies and promised that the region's development will serve to improve people's lives and local economy and get people of all ethnic backgrounds involved.

Efforts should be made to make all ethnic groups in Xinjiang identify with the great motherland, the Chinese nation, the Chinese culture and the socialist path with Chinese characteristics, he wrote.