Author: Liu Caiyu
Source: Global Times
Government employees to enhance minorities awareness of New Era
Beginning Monday, every government employee and Party official in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will be required to visit and even live with local families, in a bid to enhance ethnic unity in the region.
The regional Party committee of Xinjiang has asked officials and government staff at all levels to live in the local villages and communities they represent, in an effort to spread the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xinjiang Daily reported on Saturday. Government employees will be required to eat, live and work together with local people and pay for their meals during their week-long stay, according to the report, adding that the activity will be carried out over the remaining weeks of December. “It is an honor to serve the people through such events, which offer a good chance to know more about what the local people think, mainly the minorities,” a governmental official in Xinjiang, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Sunday. Southern Xinjiang is the primary target area of the event, he added.
The face-to-face meetings will help officials to convey the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, reported the newspaper, adding that the officials will use easy-to-understand methods and language. “Political talks will come naturally and easily when we get along well with each other and conversations go deeper,” the official said. “We can offer ideological guidance to them, such as avoiding extremism and fighting the three evil forces and staying away from separatism,” said the official.
“Having officials eat, live and work together with the people is an old tradition of the CPC, which was popular from the founding of the country to early 1980s,” Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, told the Global Times on Sunday. Reviving the tradition in Xinjiang is aimed at clearing up people’s misunderstanding of the work of government officials and to better know the country’s policies, Su said.
The move this December is a follow-up to the “ethnic unity” activity launched by the Xinjiang government last year, which required all government staff to connect with one local family and consider and treat them as “relatives,” the Xinhua News Agency reported in October 2016. “We won’t burden them during our week-long stay. Government employees and officials are requested to respect local families and show self-discipline during their visit. We will try our best to help them do farm work and solve their problems they encounter in life,” the anonymous official said.
The activity will “promote communication between officials and the people of all nationalities, consolidate and enhance ethnic unity and social stability and offer a solid basis for Xinjiang’s long-term stability,” the Xinjiang Daily reported citing the Xinjiang Party Committee.
