Key takeaways from Xi's pivotal trip to Xinjiang

MAPPING OUT WAY AHEAD

Continuously advancing high-quality development lays the foundation for Xinjiang's lasting stability and prosperity. Xi urged the region to firmly stick to the strategic roles in national development delineated by the CPC Central Committee.

Among them is the task of building a golden channel across the Eurasian continent and a gateway for opening up to the west.

With a borderline over 5,700 kilometers long, Xinjiang has 19 ports, of which 16 are land ports. In 2024, Xinjiang handled 16,400 China-Europe (Central Asia) freight train trips, maintaining over 10,000 cross-border trips annually for five consecutive years.

Highlighting that Xinjiang has become a key hub linking Europe and Asia, Xi urged the region to expand on its current achievements.

Xinjiang is accelerating efforts to build itself into a strategic base of the nation's energy resources.

In 2024, the region's oil and gas production equivalent reached 66.64 million tonnes, and the installed capacity of electricity hit 192.7 million kW, of which capacity from new energy sources surpassed 100 million kW.

The region is also rapidly emerging as a national base for high-quality agricultural and livestock products.

Its grain yield per unit area reached 7872.75 kg per hectare last year, the highest in the country. And the cotton output of about 5.69 million tonnes accounted for 92.3 percent of the national total in 2024, with a mechanization rate reaching 97 percent.

Xinjiang will also form a strategic pivot for fostering a new development paradigm and forge a strategic barrier for safeguarding national geopolitical security.

"We must deepen the integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, select the right direction and breakthrough points, and develop new quality productive forces based on local conditions," Xi said.

Xi underlined that the country has already devoted significant policies, investment, projects, and nationwide assistance to Xinjiang's development and that such efforts will continue in the years ahead.