Asad Ali
XINJIANG Uygur Autonomous Region is an autonomous region of People’s Republic of China. It has so much strategic significance and most of the scholars called it the “Heart of Eurasia”. On October 1st, 1955People’s Republic of China awarded the status of Autonomous Region to “Xinjiang”. It is situated in Northwest of China and Urumqi is the capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The region is blessed with natural resources, minerals, deserts, mountains, lakes and beautiful landscapes. It is currently China’s largest natural gas-producing region. The region is blessed with the Tarim Basin in South and the Junggar Basin in the North. The region’s famous desert and mountains are; Taklamakan Desert, Pamir Mountains and Karakoram, TianShan Mountains, Kunlun Mountains, Altay Mountains and the Flaming Mountains (Turpan), which is the 2ndlowest point in the whole world.
Some major cities of Xinjiang are Urumqi, Korla, Gulja,Kumul, Karamy, Hotan, Kashgar, Aksu and Altay. It is the largest region of China in terms of area. The area of the region is 1.66 million square kilometres, which is almost more than double of the entire size of Pakistan. Though region is one-sixth of entire China but the population of the autonomous region is about 24.87 million. Only about 9.7 percent of Xinjiang’s land area is fit for human habitation.
The region is the home of so many ethnic groups; Uygurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Hans, Tibetans, Hui, Tajiks, Mongols, Russians and Xibe.The Hans are majority non-Muslim ethnic group and Uygurs are majority Muslim ethnic group. But in overall population, the Uygurs have majority in Xinjiang. The Uygur population is 12.7 million and Han population is 9 million in Xinjiang. The region has been divided administratively into 14 prefectures, 99 Counties and 1005 townships.
The region has borders with eight countries (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia) and it shares longest border with Kazakhstan, which is 1700 kilometre long. Bordering with eight important countries, especially with three nuclear states (Pakistan, Russia and India) and three natural resources rich Republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) gives more strategic weightage to Xinjiang. Domestically, it borders with Gansu province, Qinghai province and Tibet Autonomous Region. In 2019, Xinjiang’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was about 205 billion US dollars, which was a remarkable jump, if we compare to past, it was 111 million US dollars in 1952.In 2018, 150 million domestic and international tourists visit the XUAR. Xinjiang is the hub of Eurasian Corridor, as six railway tracks towards Europe pass through from Xinjiang. China’s more than 70 percent rail freight traffic to Europe goes through from Xinjiang. The literacy rate was less than 10 per cent in 1949 but according to the data of year 2018, more than 99.91 percent children are going to school.
The Region has so much significance for both Pakistan and China. The region connects China to Pakistan over Khunjerab Pass. The geographical location of Xinjiang is also very important for Pakistan and China because of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).It is also beneficial for Pakistan to get access to Central Asian Republics via Xinjiang, as Xinjiang provides another passage to reach CARs and Europe. In the case of instability in Afghanistan, it is the only land route for Pakistan to trade with Central Asia. The region is developing very rapidly and has the potential to attract investment and absorb large industry to shift. The region is strategically very important for China to connect itself with Central Asia, Europe and Middle East.
—The writer is Research Associate at Eurasian Century Institute, Islamabad.
