Freedom of religious belief protected in Xinjiang: white paper

40 pct of Xinjiang civil servants from ethnic minorities: white paper

BEIJING -- A white paper issued by China's State Council Information Office on Thursday said over 40 percent of the civil servants in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are of ethnic minority origins in 2016.

According to the white paper, titled "Human Rights in Xinjiang - Development and Progress," there were 91,076 ethnic minority civil servants in Xinjiang in 2016. More than 66 percent of them were women.

The figure represented a huge increase from just about 3,000 in 1950, it said. In 1955, some 46,000 civil service officials were of ethnic minority origins.

The white paper said Xinjiang now has under its jurisdiction five autonomous prefectures and six autonomous counties.

People's congresses and people's governments of these autonomous administrative divisions at different levels exercise the autonomous power to administer their local affairs, it said.

Chairperson of the autonomous region, governors of autonomous prefectures, and heads of autonomous counties are all citizens from the ethnic groups exercising regional autonomy of the said areas, it continued.

"The right of ethnic minority groups to participate in public affairs is guaranteed," the white paper read.

It said people of all Xinjiang's ethnic groups enjoy the same status and the same rights, irrespective of their size of population, degree of development, and religious faith, and they must fulfill the same obligations in accordance with the law.

Their political rights as citizens are fully protected, it said.

By the end of 2016, the autonomous regional people's congress and its standing committee had formulated 372 local regulations, passed 52 regulatory resolutions and decisions, and approved 113 separate regulations and other regulations submitted by the various cities, autonomous prefectures or autonomous counties.

Meanwhile, the right to vote and right to be elected are fully protected, and community-level democratic rights are guaranteed and respected in the region.