The Communist Party of China Central Committee has appointed Chen Xiaojiang as the new secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Committee of the CPC.

Ma Xingrui, who no longer serves as the Party chief of the region, will be appointed elsewhere, according to a decision by the CPC Central Committee.

Born in 1962, Chen has been the executive deputy head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee since 2022. Previously, he served as director of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission as well as deputy director of the National Supervisory Commission and deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection — China's top graft watchdogs.

He has about 16 years' experience working in media, having been appointed as editor of China Electric Power News in 1984. He later held the position of editor-in-chief of China Water Resources News in 1995 and the president of the industry news outlet a year later.

Former Xinjiang Party chief Ma, born in 1959, used to be an aerospace engineer. From 1996 to 2012, he held several senior positions at the China Academy of Space Technology and at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

In 2013, Ma was appointed vice-minister within the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, became head of the China National Space Administration and director of the China Atomic Energy Authority before starting his political career in Guangdong province.

He also became deputy Party chief of Guangdong that year and was named the provincial governor in 2017.

Since he assumed the position of Party chief of Xinjiang in December 2021, he's been focusing on promoting high-quality development and high-level opening-up in the region. He became a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in October 2022.

cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn