China's top political advisor has said that long-term stability and security is the top priority in Xinjiang, stressing counterterrorism as the focus of the current work.
Yu Zhengsheng has made the call at a ceremony in the regional capital, Urumqi, to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
"All missions in Xinjiang, including economic growth, improvement of people's livelihoods, reform and opening up, ethnic and religious work and party building, must revolve around the objective of maintaining peace and stability in Xinjiang. We need to keep this formidable challenge in mind as we make the fight against terrorism a top priority. But while fighting terrorism, we also need to try to resolve deep-rooted issues in Xinjiang in a down-to-earth manner to lay the foundations for peace and stability."
Yu Zhensheng says part of the 'down-to-earth' approach is creating a society in Xinjiang which is not built on ethnic divides.
"We need to enhance communication among different ethnic groups in Xinjiang. We should be trying to build the region into a community which embraces ethnic diversity and unity. Ethnic groups in Xinjiang should embrace one another like the seeds in of a pomegranate."
As part of the ceremony in Urumqi, a note of congratulations from the central government has been delivered by Chinese vice-Premier Liu Yandong.
Xinjiang, in China's northwest, is home to a majority ethnic Uyghur population.
However, its population of some 30-million people also includes ethnic Han, Mongolians and Kazakhs, among others.
