Of all the provinces and autonomous regions in China, Xinjiang boasts the largest area, the longest border and the most neighboring countries. In the western development campaign, Xinjiang will stress developing an economy with distinctive local characteristics, thus changing its resources advantage into an economic advantage. Abulait Abudurexit, chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, made these remarks at a recent press conference.

Resources Advantage

Xinjiang covers an area of 1.66 million square km, accounting for one-sixth of the land in China. Being adjacent to eight countries, Xinjiang's border stretches 5,600 km, accounting for a quarter of China's land border. There are 47 ethnic groups in Xinjiang, and ethnic minorities make up 62 percent of the population.

According to Abulait Abudurexit, Xinjiang has huge development potential because of its vast land and abundant natural resources. It boasts 3.33 million hectares of cultivated land, 4.87 million hectares of reclaimable wasteland and 48 million hectares of natural pastures. With more than 570 rivers of all sizes, Xinjiang has an annual surface runoff of 88.4 billion cubic meters in addition to 25.2 billion cubic meters of recoverable groundwater. As a result, the amount of water per capita in Xinjiang is 2.25 times the national average. The abundant sunshine and heat provide exceptional conditions for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry.

A total of 138 minerals have been discovered in Xinjiang, 117 of which have proven reserves and the reserves of 43 minerals are among the country's top 10. In particular, petroleum, natural gas, coal, non-ferrous metals, gold and salt have considerable reserves in Xinjiang, making the region an important base of energy and non-ferrous metals in China. It is estimated that Xinjiang's petroleum reserves reach 20.86 billion tons, accounting for 30 percent of land petroleum reserves in China. The reserves of natural gas stand at 10,000.03 billion cubic meters, accounting for 34 percent of the national total on land. The reserves of coal top 2,190 billion tons, accounting for 40 percent of the national total.

As an important passage on the ancient Silk Road, Xinjiang has unique landscapes and customs, providing rich tourism resources. As well, it boasts exceptional geographical advantages. With 16 open ports, it is an important passage connecting Eastern, Central and Western Asia and part of the Second Eurasia Continental Bridge. It has become the bridgehead of China in exploring the Central, South and West Asian markets. To date, Xinjiang has established economic and trade relations with more than 70 countries and regions in the world. Since 1992, it has successfully held nine foreign economic and trade fairs in its capital, Urumqi.

In September 1995, the double-track Lanzhou (in Gansu Province) to Urumqi (in Xinjiang) railway was completed. In October the same year, the longest desert highway that traverses the Taklamakan Desert was completed and opened to traffic. In August 1998, the Turpan-Urumqi-Dahuangshan high-grade highway was completed. In December 1999, the Korla-Kashi section on the Southern Xinjiang Railway

Opening ceremony of the Urumqi-Shandong Economic and Trade Talks at the Xinjiang International Trade Center held on August 6, 2000. was completed and opened to traffic. The Urumqi-Kuytun Expressway has also been completed. The expansion of the Urumqi International Airport and other key projects such as those for communications optical cable and water conservation have also been completed. To date, Xinjiang's civil aviation has opened 55 domestic routes and six international routes totaling 150,000 km, while highways open to traffic total 33,500 km and railways, 3,008 km.

Key Points of Development

According to Abulait Abudurexit, Xinjiang will focus on the following key points in its implementation of western development:

1. Infrastructure for water conservation, transportation and energy. Water works construction will focus on major rivers such as the Hi River, the Ertix River and the Tarim River. With respect to transportation, construction will be focused on the extention of the Southern Xinjiang Railway to the west to form the second railway leading out of China in Xinjiang. Centering round the upgrading of national roads, Xinjiang will build a second desert highway traversing the Tarim Basin. Renovation of Hotan, Korla and Altay airports will be accelerated to further boost the aviation undertaking.

As for energy, efforts will continue to be made to develop hydropower, thermal power, wind power and natural gas power. The chief objective is to solve the power shortage in south Xinjiang and formulate a power industrial system with optimized structure and rational distribution. Gradually, Urumqi will become the center of Xinjiang's vast power grid.

2. Specialty economics and advantageous industries. Xinjiang will make a strategic adjustment of its economic structure. Based on its advantageous resources, it will develop farming and animal husbandry with distinct local characteristics. It will develop water-saving, ecological and high-efficiency agriculture while continuing to develop petroleum and petrochemical industries and restructure the textile industry.

3. Protection of the ecosystem. Strenuous efforts will be made to improve the ecosystem in mountainous areas. Importance will be attached to building oases, protecting the desert environment and treating environmental pollution. Gradually, environmental problems such as drought, salinization, sand storms and pollution should be alleviated.

4. Further opening to the outside. Xinjiang will energetically conduct cross-border economic alliances and technological cooperation with other provinces and autonomous regions. To adapt itself to economic globalization, it will fully utilize domestic and international resources and markets and actively take part in international trade, economic cooperation and market competition. It will also actively explore the Central and West Asian markets as well as the East European market so that it can truly become the bridgehead in China's western development.