Management in Xinjiang has pledged to make stability and security their highest priority and to turn the far western territory into a “strategic barrier” against geopolitical risks, according to official media. The Xinjiang committee of China’s ruling Communist Party promised in a statement at the end of its annual plenary session – followed by the top party and government officials from the region.

“[We should] make social stability the highest priority and improve the system and mechanisms for strengthening national security,”

according to the statement issued in Xinjiang Daily, the mouthpiece of the regional party committee. It stated Xinjiang should also improve

“the legal and work routines for counterterrorism and sustaining stability”,

along with public security and stability on the border.

The Xinjiang Uygur independent region shares borders with countries including Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. In Saturday’s statement, the committee also stated it would better fund the modernization of the military, improve mechanisms to combat foreign interference in Xinjiang, and construct the region into “a strategic barrier to preserve national geopolitical security” for China.

It called for the purpose of identity and community to be maintained among all ethnic groups, with more efforts required to publicize, educate, research, and interpret the concept of the Chinese nation’s “one common community”. The party’s regional committee also expressed that the legal framework for managing religious affairs should be improved. On devising the region, it stated oil and gas exploration and development should be revved, with more efforts towards clean and efficient usage of coal, developing green power, and exploration of strategic mineral resources.

The committee also recommended the regional government speed up the development of a free-trade pilot zone and tasks linking to Central Asia. In addition, the statement reflected a promise made last week by Yin Bai, who runs the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission that handles security and law enforcement in China, to stop and resist “color revolutions”. Yin described state news agency Xinhua that “safeguarding political security” and maintaining national security would be the commission’s top priority. He also highlighted the need for measures to counter terrorism, strengthen stability and “fight against separatism and infiltration”.