Improving job prospects seen as key to beating terror in Xinjiang
Print Edition
MUHTAR Jume’s greatest long-term wish is that his children finish college and earn good employment prospects.
He knows first-hand about the struggles of securing a livelihood in the family’s home area in northwest China’s Xinjiang without a good education, a situation that has been highlighted by Chinese leaders recently.
Having left school after junior middle school and a non-Mandarin speaker, Muhtar Jume has worked his way up to the position of workshop monitor at a porcelain company in the city of Kashgar. He earns 3,500 yuan (US$569) a month.
Employers in the region also attest to the need to boost education. “We only need to recruit 150 workers in a similar factory in inland provinces, but in Xinjiang, we doubled the number as local laborers’ technology levels lag far behind, and language and customs barriers affect efficiency,” said Zhao Zhouqiang, vice president of the Kashgar Yuandong Group Co, the parent of the porcelain company where Muhtar Jume works.
Among 250 Uygur staff, only three have college degrees. Half have middle school degrees and about 40 percent have only primary education or are illiterate, said Zhao, adding that training is a challenge.
Uygurs in the area, which borders Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, face poverty, high unemployment, harsh natural conditions and a dense population, conditions which offer room for overseas separatist forces to penetrate, said Yang Fuqiang, an assistant researcher with the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences.
The need to improve employment was pointed out by Chinese President Xi Jinping as a top priority for authorities in Xinjiang at the second central work conference on Xinjiang in late May.
Premier Li Keqiang also said that employment is the biggest concern for Xinjiang people.
The meeting was held following a series of terrorist attacks in the region, including one on May 22 at a market in Urumqi, the region’s capital, that left 39 dead and 94 injured.
“Getting the surplus labor employed and earning money is key to social stability and economic development in Xinjiang,” said Yang Fuqiang.
Efforts are being made to improve employment prospects in Xinjiang.
Shandong Ruyi Group, one of China’s largest textile manufacturers, signed an agreement this month with the Kashgar government, pledging to invest 6 billion yuan and employ 26,000 people within two years to build a textile and clothing base there.
The Chinese government will also invest 2 billion yuan to build Kashgar University, the first comprehensive university in southern Xinjiang.
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