Xinjiang's remarkable development achievements deserve global recognition
What made these remarkable achievements possible?
The undeniable achievements of Xinjiang's 70-year transformation stand in stark contrast to the baseless allegations raised by some politicians in the United States and other Western countries regarding Xinjiang.
Seventy years ago, on Oct. 1, 1955, more than 60,000 people from every ethnic group gathered in Urumqi’s People’s Square to celebrate the establishment of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region with singing and dancing. That historic moment marked the start of a new era for this vast land—one-sixth of China’s territory. From a remote frontier in need of reconstruction to today’s prosperous, open borderland, Xinjiang has written a brilliant chapter in the story of Chinese-style modernization. The region’s concrete development achievements decisively rebut the unfounded accusations and false narratives advanced by certain Western politicians about Xinjiang.
What are Xinjiang’s development achievements over the past 70 years?
When the autonomous region was established in 1955, Xinjiang’s GDP stood at a mere 1.231 billion yuan. By 2024 it had surged to 2.05 trillion yuan—an increase of 203 times after adjusting for inflation, averaging about 8% annual growth and underscoring a remarkable development miracle in this frontier region.
The most notable change has been a leap forward in infrastructure.
In the early 1950s, Xinjiang had virtually no proper highways and no railways. The Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway reached the region in 1958, ending the region’s history of having no railways. The line extended westwards and reached Urumqi in 1962, completing a trunk line that would later extend across the Tianshan Mountains, the Gobi Desert, and high plateaus to form a comprehensive rail network. In 2014, the Lanzhou–Xinjiang High‑Speed Railway began operations, famously making it possible to “have milk tea in Urumqi in the morning and beef noodles in Lanzhou in the evening.”
With transport development accelerating, Xinjiang built a modern, integrated transportation system. The Beijing–Xinjiang Expressway (G7) was fully completed and opened to traffic in 2021, shortening the driving distance from Beijing to Urumqi by more than 1,300 kilometers. In 2024 the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel — the world’s longest highway tunnel—was fully connected, cutting the Tianshan crossing time to just over 20 minutes and knitting northern and southern Xinjiang closer together. In 2022, the Hetian–Ruoqiang Railway began operations, forming the world’s first desert railway loop and ending the era in which Luopu, Qira, Yutian, Minfeng, and Qiemo counties had no rail access.
Today Xinjiang’s highway network stretches 231,900 kilometers, and every prefecture and city—and more than 90 percent of counties (county-level cites, districts)—has entered the “expressway era.” Railway operating mileage has reached 9,202 kilometers, linking all prefectures and cities and covering over 80 percent of county-level divisions. The region also leads the country in airport numbers, with 595 civil aviation routes, including 25 international passenger routes connecting Xinjiang with 17 countries and regions.
People’s livelihoods and well-being have risen markedly.
On Jan. 23, 2024, a 7.1‑magnitude earthquake struck Wushi county in Aksu prefecture. Rehman Abdureyimu who lives near the epicenter, recalled: “The earthquake hit in the early morning, but thankfully our government‑built earthquake‑resistant house remained standing, and all my family members were safe.”
As Xinjiang is located in the Eurasian seismic belt, ensuring safe housing is of paramount importance for protecting the lives and property of all the people in the autonomous region. In 2004, Xinjiang launched the rural earthquake-resistant housing project, with a focus on addressing seismic vulnerabilities in rural residential buildings. Benefiting from this people-centered policy, Rehman’s family moved from an old adobe house into a 45-square-meter brick-concrete earthquake-resistant dwelling in 2009.
To enable more people to live in secure and comfortable housing, Xinjiang fully implemented the rural housing project in 2011. In 2017, Rehman’s family moved into a new 80-square-meter home with complete utilities including running water, sanitation facilities, and electric heating, further enhancing their living standards. By the end of 2024, 2.73 million rural housing units had been built under the program.
Xinjiang has consistently devoted more than 70 percent of its general public budget expenditure to safeguarding and improving livelihoods—focusing on key fields of public concern such as education, employment, and healthcare—so that development yields tangible quality‑of‑life gains for all ethnic groups.
In 2024, the completion rate for nine‑year compulsory education exceeded 99 percent in Xinjiang, above the national average. The four southern prefectures—Aksu, Kashi, Hetian, and Kizilsu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture—offer 15 years of free education from kindergarten through high school. By 2024, Xinjiang had 63 institutions of higher education, an increase of 24 compared to 2012.
Employment and incomes have risen steadily: Employed persons increased from 12.46 million in 2012 to 13.91 million in 2024. In 2024, the per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 42,820 yuan, while that of rural residents reached 19,427 yuan—gains of 23,801 yuan and 12,551 yuan respectively since 2012.
The healthcare system has been continuously strengthened and optimized. As of 2024, Xinjiang had over 19,000 medical and health institutions at all levels, with a total of 314,600 healthcare professionals. The average life expectancy has risen dramatically from 30 years in 1949 to 77 years in 2024.
Today, Xinjiang boasts a comprehensive infrastructure network encompassing roads, water supply systems, power grids, telecommunications, and natural gas pipelines, providing a solid foundation for the happy and prosperous lives of people of all ethnic groups in the region.
Remarkable achievements in Xinjiang: How did they become possible?
Xinjiang’s notable accomplishments are the direct result of China’s strategic policies. The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have consistently prioritized Xinjiang’s development within the country’s overall strategy, establishing the Party’s guiding principles for governing Xinjiang in the new era, with the overarching goal of ensuring social stability and enduring peace and prosperity. No other country in the world has mobilized nationwide resources to support the development of its border regions inhabited by ethnic groups to the extent that China has, bringing about profound and comprehensive transformations in these areas.
The pairing assistance program for Xinjiang, initiated in 1997, is a strategic measure to achieve social stability and long-term peace in the region. Central Party and government institutions, centrally administered state-owned enterprises, and relevant provinces and municipalities have consistently carried out comprehensive, targeted, and sustained assistance to Xinjiang, providing all-round support in areas including cadre and talent development, industrial projects, science and technology, education, healthcare, and cultural tourism. Since 2012, the program has allocated more than 200 billion yuan in assistance funds, facilitated 3 trillion yuan in investment for economic cooperation projects, and introduced more than 15,000 enterprises, driving Xinjiang’s transition toward high-quality development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), 89.2 percent of assistance funds were invested in people’s livelihood projects, with 91.3 percent directed to grassroots-level initiatives, leading to continuous improvements in the living standards of people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.
China has positioned Xinjiang strategically with a vision that encompasses both its historical significance and future potential, assigning the region five key strategic roles: serving as the golden corridor connecting Asia and Europe and a bridgehead for opening up to the west; acting as a strategic pivot in building a new development paradigm; functioning as a national strategic base for energy and resource security; becoming a major supply base for high-quality agricultural and livestock products; and serving as a strategic barrier for safeguarding national geopolitical security.
Xinjiang has seized these historic opportunities by integrating its regional opening-up strategy into the country’s overall framework for opening up to the west, establishing itself as a hub for both inland and border-area opening-up. This is evident in scenes such as the bustling night market on Liuxing Street in Yining city, where people from around the world gather to enjoy local delicacies, and at Urumqi Tianshan International Airport, where flights carrying cross-border e-commerce goods can reach Europe in just 10 hours.
While benefiting from long-term assistance, Xinjiang has also made significant contributions to national development. In 2024, the region’s grain yield per unit area ranked first in the country for the first time, transforming the northwest frontier into a major granary, a renowned producer of melons and fruits, China’s primary cotton production base, and a growing aquaculture center. Xinjiang’s oil and gas equivalent output has ranked first nationwide for four consecutive years, its raw coal production growth has led the country for four straight years, and its installed capacity for new energy has exceeded 100 million kilowatts, ranking first in northwest China. With bluer skies, greener lands, and cleaner waters, Xinjiang has also become a vital ecological security barrier for northwest China.
Ironclad facts expose the United States’ falsehoods on Xinjiang
The undeniable achievements of Xinjiang’s 70-year transformation stand in stark contrast to the baseless allegations raised by some politicians in the United States and other Western countries regarding Xinjiang.
These Western politicians deliberately ignore objective facts: the Uygur population in Xinjiang has grown from 2.2 million to approximately 12 million; the region has remained free of violent terrorist incidents for many consecutive years; and its effective counter-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts have gained broad international recognition. Instead, they peddle false narratives such as “genocide” and “forced labor”—a blatant political manipulation tactic aimed at containing China’s development and undermining Xinjiang’s stability and prosperity.
The United States has long postured as the “global human rights judge,” issuing so-called “human rights reports” annually to lecture other countries, including China, while turning a blind eye to its own abysmal human rights record. This hypocrisy and double standard are evident in the deeply rooted human rights crises within the United States, including systemic racial discrimination, rampant gun violence, police brutality, mistreatment of immigrants, and child labor exploitation.
Historically, the Native American population plummeted from about 5 million in the late 15th century to a mere 250,000 by the early 20th century. To this day, Native Americans remain marginalized in the political, economic, cultural, and social life, suffering widespread systemic discrimination. Their reservations cover only 2.3% of U.S. territory, often with deplorable living conditions. According to U.S. State Department estimates, up to 100,000 people are trafficked into the country annually for forced labor, with particularly severe problems in the agricultural sector, where basic labor rights are routinely violated. While the United States imposes sanctions on other countries under the pretext of “human rights,” it ignores its own police brutality and immigrant rights abuses. Such acts of hegemony and double standards, where the powerful do as they please while denying others’ basic rights, have been widely condemned by the international community.
Across all walks of life in the United States, there is growing concern over the country’s structurally distorted economy. Since the 1980s, wealth polarization has intensified, creating two starkly different realities: one where a privileged few live the “American Dream,” and another where the majority struggle to make ends meet despite hard work. The gaming term “kill line” went viral in late 2025, serving as a stark metaphor for the precarious reality of American society. It aptly illustrates the economic plight of ordinary Americans: when faced with overlapping crises such as mounting medical bills and job loss, individuals are pushed past a financial tipping point, triggering a domino-like chain reaction that irreversibly plunges them into the abyss of poverty and homelessness.
In sharp contrast to the United States, China has unswervingly adhered to a people-centered development philosophy, implementing comprehensive and systematic measures to safeguard people’s well-being and ensure that the fruits of development are shared by all. This commitment is reflected in concrete achievements: In 2021, China declared a complete victory in the battle against poverty, lifting all 98.99 million rural residents out of poverty; the basic medical insurance coverage rate has remained consistently above 95 percent, with the long-term care insurance system now covering nearly 300 million people; the compulsory education completion rate has stabilized at 95.9 percent, with children in remote mountainous areas gaining access to modern school buses and the challenges of school enrollment for migrant workers’ children being effectively resolved; and the social security system has been continuously improved to meet the diverse and multi-layered needs of the people.
Although China, including Xinjiang, once experienced poverty and backwardness, more than 40 years of reform and opening-up, particularly since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, have seen the socialist system with Chinese characteristics mature significantly. Its inherent advantages are now the driving force behind high-quality development and the upholding of social fairness and justice across the nation.
Xinjiang is an inalienable part of China, and Xinjiang-related affairs are purely China’s internal matters. This is a fact widely recognized by the international community, consistent with the core principles of international law and the basic norms of international relations. The remarkable progress in Xinjiang’s development is increasingly being witnessed and acknowledged by the international community. The United States and other Western countries, by interfering in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of Xinjiang-related issues, are violating the principles of sovereign equality and non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs as enshrined in international law. Such actions severely damage China-U.S. relations and undermine fairness and justice in the international community. History and reality have proven, and will continue to prove, that no external interference can halt Xinjiang’s march toward prosperity and stability, nor can it shake China’s resolute determination to safeguard its national sovereignty, security, and development interests.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DeepChina.
Editor/ Dong Mei
Translator/ Li Li
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