Xinjiang plans to cultivate cotton sector

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, China's prime cotton-growing area, plans to pump some 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion) into its textile industry to create jobs and maintain social stability, local officials in its Beijing representative office said on Friday.

"The push for textile development will create more jobs in the sector," said Yan Qin, a top official of Urumqi. "It is not only a matter of economic returns and social benefits, but also a political issue."

He said that Xinjiang, which produces about 60 percent of China's cotton on less than 40 percent of the country's cotton-growing land, aims to create 1 million jobs in the textile industry within the next decade.