Xinjiang—paradise in the making

China’s rapid progress and development

Xinjiang, once the underdeveloped backwaters of China, is well underway to becoming a paradise on earth. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, commonly known as Xinjiang, is China’s largest provincial administrative division and is located in the northwest. With an area of 1.66 million square kilometres bordering eight countries — Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India — the autonomous region is indeed a bridgehead in Eurasia. With thousands of years of history and home to 55 ethnic compositions, comprising 61 percent of its total population of 22.64 million, Xinjiang is a melting pot of civilisations. It served as an important passage for the ancient Silk Road, which was a network of trade and commerce central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the Occident to the Orient. Merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers travelled along it to and from China and India to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time.

Extending over 6,500 kilometres, the Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in Chinese silk carried out along its length, beginning during the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD). The Chinese, Greeks, Byzantines, Persians, Indians and Arabs all utilised this route for trade and commerce but also for political, cultural and religious integration. Besides these social, commercial and spiritual aspects, the Silk Road had a profound effect on pastoral as well as underdeveloped societies, erstwhile dwelling in isolation; they were drawn to the riches and opportunities of the civilisations connected by the routes.

In September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping unfolded his strategic vision for the Silk Road Economic Belt during a speech in Kazakhstan. The principles, framework, cooperation priorities and mechanisms of the Silk Road Economic Belt are to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future together. The vision incorporates routes panning through the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant East Asia economic circle at one end and developed European economic circle and beyond at the other.

Amidst this mega visionary project, Xinjiang has a pivotal role. Xinjiang achieved a 10% GDP growth in 2015. A number of development projects have been launched, which will propel Xinjiang to achieve its true potential. During the recently concluded two sessions of NPC and CPPCC, a number of initiatives for the uplift of Xinjiang were approved. The government has promised policies including rent-free factories and favourable loan deals to boost the local textile industry and create 11,000 jobs this year. Xinjiang will establish a fund for textile and garment companies to help them increase exports to central and western Asia, Russia and Europe. New companies from other provinces will be offered rent-free factories in industrial parks and Xinjiang’s less-developed southern area of Hotian, Aksu, Kashgar and Kizilsu Kirgiz prefectures. Other incentives will include transportation subsidies. Fixed asset investment into textile and garment factories will reach 45.5 billion Yuan (about $6.95 billion) this year. Authorities in Xinjiang, which produces 60 percent of China’s raw cotton, have said they will continue to promote labour-intensive industries to alleviate poverty.

China and Germany are planning a huge trade and logistics park in Urumqi. Urumqi Economic and Technological Development Zone (UETDZ) and the port of Duisburg will build a trade and logistics park close to Urumqi West Railway Station with a core area of 2.2 square kilometres, extending to a potential full area of 120 square kilometres, according to the memorandum recently signed. A newly established company, Xinjiang International Railway Port Limited Liability Company, with a registered capital of 200 million Yuan (about $31 million), will be responsible for the operation of the park. The Port of Duisburg, considered the world’s largest inland port, will hold 20 percent of the company. The UETDZ and associates will hold the remaining 80 percent stake.

A weekly cargo train service will open in the first half of this year between Duisburg and Urumqi, according to the agreement. Cargo will then take only 12 days from Xinjiang to Germany, rather than the current 45 days by sea. The park, close to Urumqi high-speed rail terminal and airport, will integrate railways, highways and air transit. The annual rail cargo is expected to reach 20 million tonnes in 2020 and 50 million tonnes in the long term.

Steps are being taken to enhance generating capacity of new energy, including wind and solar power in Xinjiang and is expected to nearly double to 43 GW by 2020.

Tertiary industries, led by tourism and the services sector, played a vital role in boosting economic growth in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region last year. Tertiary industries in Xinjiang achieved 420 billion Yuan (about $64.12 billion) of added value in 2015, up 12.7 percent year-on-year and contributing 51 percent to the regional economic growth, according to Xinjiang’s Statistical Bureau. Meanwhile, Xinjiang’s major tourist destinations received 23 million sightseers, including 49,000 international tourists.

Xinjiang will establish 900 specialty schools to promote soccer among teenagers and will build 200 school soccer fields by the end of 2020.

Xinjiang along with its strategic location, astride the crossroads of civilisation and the preparations being made to launch the Silk Road Economic Belt, with nature’s endowment to Xinjiang in the shape of three snow-clad mountain ranges, spotless lakes, grasslands, meandering rivers, wind farms and deserts and mineral resources of precious and semi-precious stones, coal, crude oil and natural gas are certainly going to transform Xinjiang into a new Eden on earth.