Demonstration of unity

"Such a top-level meeting on Xinjiang is the first of its kind to be held since New China was founded. It laid out an all-embracing blueprint for Xinjiang's future, and will play a significant role in boosting the region's development, stability and the border areas' security," said Hao Shiyuan, an expert on ethnology and anthropology and deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"I believe only in China, with its socialist system, can the central government mobilize all the nation's finances, resources and manpower to support a single region's development," said Hao, also president of the Chinese Ethnological Society.

"The combination of three sources - central government support, assistance from the economically developed provinces, and Xinjiang's self-development - demonstrates the spirit of unity and common endeavor. It will surely bring people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang closer," he said.

Ma Dazheng, deputy director of the Research Center of China's Border History and Geography at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said:"while stressing the leapfrog development in Xinjiang's economy, the CPC Central Committee also underscores the region's overall development, such as education and personnel training."

"The people's livelihood is another major concern of the CPC Central Committee, which stressed bringing tangible benefits to the general public at the meeting. The people's livelihood is the foundation of development and stability," said Ma.

"Another highlight of the meeting is that the CPC Central Committee makes clear that Xinjiang's stability concerns the country's stability and Xinjiang's issue is more than a single region's issue. That's why the CPC Central Committee is to mobilize the strength of the entire Party and the entire nation to help Xinjiang achieve a leapfrog development," he said.

"The meeting gives us inspiring news," said Rayim Ismail, a resident of Uygur ethnic group in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, Thursday.

He is moving from a shantytown to a new area in the city with better living conditions under a government-funded housing project.

"I am delighted to see more and more good policies issued for us," he said.