Absolute [Top] Secret
Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Document Central Committee (1996) No. 7
Record of the Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party concerning the maintenance of Stability in Xinjiang.
On March 19, 1996 the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party held a meeting hosted by comrade Jiang Zemin.
At the meeting, the Political-Legal Commission of the Central Committee made a report about defending the stability of Xinjiang. The task of defending the stability of Xinjiang was discussed.
The record of the meeting is as follows:
1. Ideological unity, consciousness-raising, leadership strengthening, and a clear sense of duty are necessary. Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, every level of the Party Committee and Peoples Government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has overcome great difficulties and has accomplished great results by exercising leadership over the cadres and peoples of every nationality. Reform and opening-up has gradually increased, economic construction has developed relatively fast, and the living-standard of people has steadily improved. Xinjiang has basically been politically stable. Moreover, Xinjiang has rich natural resources, a beneficial environment and a promising future. With a few years of hard work, it will be possible for Xinjiang to become a developing economic zone. At the same time, we have to bear in mind that national separatism and illegal religious activity are the main threats to the stability of Xinjiang. The main problem is that international counter-revolutionary forces led by the United States of America are openly supporting the separatist activities inside and outside of Xinjiang. The outside national separatist organizations are joining hands and strengthening the infiltration of Xinjiang sabotage activities with each passing day. Within our national borders, illegal religious activities are widespread; sabotaging activities such as the instigation of problematic situations, the breaking-and entering of party government offices and explosions and terrorism are occurring sporadically. Some of these activities have changed from completely hidden to semi-open activities, even to the degree of openly challenging the governments authority. Under the unified leadership and close scrutiny of the Xinjiang party and government, the armed police forces of the concerned branches in the Autonomous Region, in cooperation with Peoples Liberation Army officers and soldiers, have mobilized the cadres and people of every nationality whom they depend on in the ceaseless fight against ethnic separatist activities, and have contributed significantly to the defense of ethnic unity and social stability in Xinjiang in order to guarantee that reform, opening-up and the construction of modernization continue smoothly. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of maintaining stability, a few weak points still remain. Therefore, while recognizing our achievements, we also have to keep in mind that maintaining the stability of Xinjiang is a long term, complicated, and difficult task. In the current, complicated international struggle, there are some real and potentially dangerous elements facing Xinjiang. If we do not increase our vigilance and strengthen work in every respect, large-scale incidents might suddenly occur and confusion and disruption could break out and affect the stability of Xinjiang and the whole nation. On every level party committees and the peoples government and concerned branches have to adhere to Deng Xiaoping’s theory of building China-style socialism and the Party’s basic principles and guiding policy; foresee possible dangers; dam the river before the floods come; correctly handle the relationship between reform, development and stability. On every level party and government leaders need to create a responsible order in defending ethnic unity and social stability and perfect it while holding high the banner of defending ethnic unity and honor of the law with great political sensitivity and pride, unify to the greatest level the cadres and people of every nationality and depend on them to alienate as much as possible the very small number of ethnic separatists and criminals who commit serious crimes and strike hard against them, thus reinforcing the work of defending stability in all fields.
2. Every level of Party and Government organization needs to strengthen the construction of all levels of government, especially on the basic level of government, and create a team of cadres who are politically dependable. During this year and next, the weak and disorganized party branches have to be reorganized. Most importantly, the village level organizations which have fallen into the hands of religious powers have to be organized with great attention. The chairmen of village party branches and the heads of neighborhood districts have to be chosen carefully. According to the “Four Codes of Behavior,” town party and government leadership teams have to be built as a stable, combative group who can determinedly implement the policies of the Party and unify and lead the people as well as rescue them from poverty and lead them toward wealth while daring to fight determinedly against ethnic separatist activities. Choose better party member cadres and soldiers from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps – Bing Tuan – (XPCC) to supplement the county and town-level cadre teams and improve the structure of cadres. Trust and depend on cadres of every nationality, train a number of minority cadres who can determinedly defend the unity of the nation, fight against ethnic separatism and establish a close relationship with people while maintaining strong, revolutionary professionalism. At the same time, take real measures to train a large number of Han cadres who love Xinjiang and who will stick to the basic theory, principles and guiding policy of the Party to correctly implement the ethnic and religion policies of the Party and then relocate them to Xinjiang. In Xinjiang, establish a cadre training plan and realize it; properly increase the number of people chosen for training in the central party school and other schools. Form a group of excellent young people to be sent to China proper for study; choose cadres from every nationality and send them to other cities, provinces and central organizations; put them into positions with assigned duties. Discuss and make policy to continuously import talented people and make it a priority to attract college graduates to come to Xinjiang. In the Autonomous Region it is necessary to properly utilize intellectual resources and assign them jobs in order to prevent the outflow of talented people. The Autonomous Region Party Committee has the right to demand supplementary cadres, professionals and technicians. The concerned branches in the central government will help to solve these demands with the help of related provinces and directly governed cities. In order to maintain the leadership power on every level in the hands of people who love the Communist Party and communist motherland and defend the unity of the Chinese nation, the government must realize reform, development, and stability measures on basic levels to guarantee ethnic unity and to continuously develop, and strengthen the ideological and political construction of every level of leadership team by strengthening training and leadership for cadres. If cadres have political, economical and ideological behavior problems, relocate them or replace them, but do not allow to leave on their own will.
3. Implement comprehensively and correctly the ethnic and religious policy of the party and strengthen the legal control of ethnic and religious affairs. The cadre and people of every nationality in Xinjiang support the leadership of the Communist Party and its socialist system and defend ethnic unity, love of the big family motherland. Based on the real situation of Xinjiang, seriously investigate the implementation of the Party’s ethnic policy in a timely manner. Develop several kinds of propaganda and training activities related to ethnic unity; develop and stabilize the socialist ethnic relationship. Properly and correctly resolve the conflict between people of every nationality. When resolving problems which occur between ethnic groups or within an ethnic group, adhere to the principle of seeking truth from the facts and resolve it accordingly. Do not resolve everything unselectively as an ethnic problem. Prevent conflicts between people from becoming an ethnic conflict. Clearly oppose ethnic separatism. Be vigilant against the very small number of people with bad intentions who damage our ethnic relationship. Legally fight illegal activities which damage ethnic unity. Religious problems will generally be treated as a conflict among people. Legally strengthen the leadership and control over religion and comprehensively and correctly realize and implement the religion policy of the Party. Take strong measures to prevent and fight against the infiltration and sabotaging activities of foreign religious powers. Restrict all illegal religious activities. Severely control the building of new mosques. Mosques built without permission from the government have to be handled according to registration methods of practicing sites of religion. Relocate or replace quickly people who are hesitant or support ethnic separatism. Give leadership positions in mosques and religious organizations to dependable, talented people who love the motherland. Stop illegal organizations such as underground religious schools, kung-fu schools and Koran studies meetings. Handle the illegal criminal activities of underground religion students according to the law. Register the people trained in the underground religion schools and sites one by one and tightly control them. Give criticism education to lesser offenders among them and punish the ones who have violated the law and committed crime according to the law. Take strong measures to prevent religion meddling in politics and other social affairs. Strengthen the ideological and political education of religious people and increase their law-abiding awareness and lead them to practice their religion legally. Let the religious leaders know that religious activities have to be carried out according to law, and that religion cannot be allowed to interfere with the administration, the legal system, education and marriage, nor be allowed to hinder production and the social order. At the same time, advertise the rule and orders by many different ways and methods and popularize them among people who practice religion. Defend both the right of practicing as well as not practicing religion. Forcing others to practice religion will never be allowed. A young generation of patriotic religious leaders who will defend motherland unity and ethnic unity has to be trained and prepared by systematic training and sent to China proper for visiting and studying in order to fully utilize the function of patriotic religious organizations. The power of every level of organization, especially the basic level organizations of ethnic and religious affairs has to be supplied and strengthened. The Party apparatus has to be improved and the leadership function fully utilized.
4. Stabilize the ideological and cultural stronghold against separatism by strong propaganda and investigate and organize schools. By utilizing every kind of propaganda publicize the good current situation of the country and Xinjiang, the Marxist ethnic and religious viewpoint, the Party’s ethnic and religious policies, and the laws and decrees of the country and patriotic and socialist ideas, such as the idea of “long live ethnic unity” and the idea of struggling for the unity of the big family of many ethnic groups can be emphasized. All party members and cadres need to make it convenient for teachers and young students to establish a correct view of our nation, ethnicity, and religion; strengthen the view of law and order, and firmly establish the view that Han and minorities cannot be separated from each other. Mobilize every power possible to defend the unity of motherland and the unity of ethnic groups. Strengthen the construction of border region schools and cultural facilities, speed up the television and radio network construction in Xinjiang, increase the coverage of television and radio, strengthen the work of printing and distributing materials in ethnic languages and firmly occupy the ideological and cultural stronghold. Party members and cadres should strengthen the ideological and political education to teachers and the broad masses, especially young people and children. Communist Party members and cadres are Marxist materialists, and, therefore, should not be allowed to believe in and practice religion. Carry out patiently detailed education to Party member believers; make it possible for them to consciously escape from the influence of religion. The party members who believe in religion and refuse to change have to withdraw from membership in the party. Education branches should pay special attention to the investigation and organization of teaching orders in schools; do not allow religion to corrupt the schools; do not allow anyone to teach school children ethnic separatism and publicize religious ideas. Remove textbook contents which inspire ethnic separatism and publicize religious ideas. Tightly limit the cultural exchange activities such as foreign teachers teaching at Xinjiang schools. For sensitive things such as matters concerning religion one first has to apply for permission from the national education committee and the state councils religious affairs department. When choosing students for study abroad, pay great attention to their attitude and their actual behavior. Do not send those without a good attitude. Concerned branches should tightly control their criteria in this respect when investigating and permitting students with political backgrounds to go abroad for study with his or her own money. Severely restrict elementary and high schools from developing cultural exchange programs with schools in foreign countries. Elementary and high school students from the border regions are not allowed to attend the elementary and high schools of foreign countries. Criticize and educate the school leaders, teachers and staff who violate the above regulations. If their behavior is serious, handle according to law and regulations. Tightly control the media market. Books, journals, audio and video tapes which twist the history and inspire ethnic separatism and illegal religious ideas should be prohibited and confiscated without exception; the involved personnel have to be investigated.
5. Strengthen the democratic dictatorship organizations, such as Public Safety and National Security, and fully utilize their functions in fighting separatism and sabotage activities. Supplement and strengthen the leadership, cadres and police forces in public safety, national security, courts and the judicial branches. Train them hard and increase their political, ideological, and professional knowledge levels; increase the material investment in them to equip them well. Increase their combat readiness. Public safety, national security branches and the PLA’s intelligence branches should cooperate and work together to investigate and analyze the enemies inside and outside the border and strengthen the work of collecting intelligence information. Make southern Xinjiang the focus of attention; establish a sensitive information net and manage to get information on a deep level which can covertly alert beforehand. Establish individual files; maintain supervision and vigilance. Legally strike against separatism, sabotaging and criminal activities of the internal and external hostile forces in a timely manner. Strengthen the management of labor camps (laogai) and prisons in Xinjiang. Guarantee the stability of the camps and prisons. Tighten measures for controlling the border and border defense posts. Prevent the entry of outside ethnic separatists, weapons, and propaganda materials. Prevent internal and external ethnic separatists from coming together and joining hands.
6. Strengthen the construction of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC). Xinjiang, developing the border region and defending the safety of border region. XPCC is a trusted important force in defending the social stability of Seriously discuss and solve the real problems and difficulties they are facing; develop the relationship and continuously sponsor and mobilize ambitious young people in China proper to come and settle in XPCC, expand the force and fully utilize the XPCCs special function in defending and developing border regions. Under the unified leadership of the Xinjiang Autonomous Regions Party Committee and the Peoples Government, the XPCC has to improve its administrative functions. Along with the fundamental changes in the economic system, the function and structure of the XPCC has to be reformed properly, but its duty of unifying labor with military affairs, opening of new lands and the developing border regions shall not change. Country will assign a proper budget for its military affairs according to the same requirement as for Military departments. Additional aid will be given for its social affairs. The economic and social development plan of XPCC will still be included in the National Plan, and will be integrated into the plan of locals. Take the opportunity to develop Southern Xinjiang; our country should expand the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in Southern Xinjiang. Governments on all levels should give priority to the construction and tasks of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; they should properly resolve conflicts and confrontation between the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and local farmers and nomadic peoples concerning grasslands, water and other natural resources.
7. A stronghold against ethnic separatism should be formed by greatly strengthening the construction of the People’s Liberation Army in Xinjiang. The military forces in Xinjiang will only be strengthened, not weakened. Education on ethnic and religion policy must be selectively carried out among the Army. Tighten control and increase the military and political ability of officers and soldiers to prevent the enemy forces from causing confusion so that they can infiltrate and carry out sabotaging activities. Develop the Army-government and Army-People relationship. Make an action scheme for maintaining stability and a plan to guarantee it. Strengthen the relationship with Public Safety, National Security and Armed Police Departments and cooperate with them closely to guarantee that local governments carry out work of maintaining stability smoothly. Keep up the work of the experimental Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in Southern Xjinjiang. Strengthen the construction of county (city) level Armed Police Departments. Effectively carry out the Army and reserved Army tasks. Strengthen the ideological and political education for the People’s Liberation Army Emergency Force departments established in prefectures, counties (city) and towns. Train them hard and educate them well to increase their military and political talents, thus guaranteeing that the leadership and commanding power stay in the hands of every level of party committees and people’s governments.
8. Perform the related diplomatic tasks well. Limit the activities of outside ethnic separatist activities from many sides. Bear in mind the fact that Turkey, Kazakistan and Kyrgyzstan are the home-bases for the activities of outside separatists forces. Through diplomacy, urge these countries to limit and weaken the activities of separatist forces inside their border. Take full advantage of our political superiority to further develop the bilateral friendly cooperation with these countries. At the same time, always maintain pressure on them. Considering the ethnic separatism activities outside of the border, carry out all necessary dialog and struggle. Strengthen the investigation and study outside of the border. Collect the information on related development directions of events, and be especially vigilant against and prevent, by all means, the outside separatist forces from making the so-called “Eastern Turkistan” problem international. Divide the outside separatist forces, win over most of them and alienate the remaining small number and fight against them. Establish homebases in the regions or cities with high Chinese and overseas Chinese populations. Develop several types of propaganda. Make broad and deep friends and limit the separatist activities to the highest degree. 9. Perform well the preparations for handling the incidents which occur suddenly. As part of the task of maintaining the stability of Xinjiang, establish a unified system whereby all related parties are informed of the everyday situation. Study the situation, analyze methods of handling it, and strengthen the coordination and leadership necessary for maintaining the stability of Xinjiang. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Party Committee and the People’s Governments, along with Public Safety, National Security, Xinjiang branch of Armed Police and People’s Liberation Army should plan the measures for handling the sudden occurrence of incidents and strengthen maneuvers, and prepare well, do well manpower, as well as financial and material powers. Strengthen the construction of Xinjiang Armed Police and Special Force in handling the suddenly occurring incidents. The Armed Police should always study the situation and methods for handling it, perform well the political-ideological education selectively, and make plans for action in advance in order further materialize every preparation for forces in handling different kinds emergencies and complicated situations. The Armed Police of other provinces and cities who have the duty to assist also have to get prepared. Learn from the fighting experience and strengthen the basic level construction, tighten the internal management, practice handling emergency, increase dependability, and be ready to start as soon as one gets the order. Pay attention to the construction of the Public Safety Preventive Groups and the Armed Police Reserves in order to better accommodate the needs of emergency situations. Strengthen the guardposts at important targets and guarantee their absolute safety. Every level of local party committee and people’s government should let the major leaders of the Armed Police enter into joint meetings and the command apparatus necessary to defend the stability.
10. Speed up the economic development and improve the life of people. Focus on economic construction, deepen the reform, broaden the scope of open-door policy and the continued strengthening of economic construction are the important bases for maintaining the stability of Xinjiang. Combined with knowledge of actual condition in Xinjiang, implement the spirit of the Party’s 14th central committee 5th session and the Social Development of the 9th Five Year Plan which was approved at the 8th People’s Congress 4th session as well as the future goals set to 2010. Materialize the development strategy of western part (Xinjiang). Put the superiorities of Xinjiang to full use. Speed up the development to decrease the gap. The central government will carry out a favorable policy for developing the economy of Xinjiang and give further support to Xinjiang, especially for southern Xinjiang by arranging for skilled personnel and financial credit, and promoting an “open door” policy. While performing the task of maintaining the stability of southern Xinjiang well as a major point, take great effort to strengthen the economic development of the region with great effort. With the money of the central government and the help of the locals, quickly complete the southern Xinjiang railway, push the development of cotton production and petroleum as well as the petrol-chemical industry in order to change the region’s poor and backward face. Based on the planned types of construction and assigned monetary investment , combined with the implementation of the 9th Five Year Plan, the National Plan Committees and Departments have to make an effort to help the economic construction and social development of the Xinjiang. Party Central Committee, the State Counsel, concerned departments of Central Military Affairs Committee and the Autonomous Region Party Committee and the People’s Government must act fast to implement and materialize this record of the Central Committees Political Bureau Standing Committee meeting. Based on deep investigation and study and propose a really effective plan for the implementation. Realize every section item by item in order to guarantee the long-term stability and smooth continuation of reform, “opening-up” and economic construction of Xinjiang. Related departments have to make every effort to help the economic construction and social development of Xinjiang. Based on realistic assessments, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Party Committee must organize the dissemination and implementation of this report according to the principle of differentiating top from bottom, the internal from the external.
(This document will be distributed to Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Party Committee, Lanzhou Military District Party Committee, the related departments of Central Committee, the concerned Party Committees of National Ministrys, the head quarter of Military Committees and the party groups of concerned people’s organizations)