觀點丨夏璐：Global implications for borderland governance

夏 璐

中國人民大學國家發展與戰略研究院研究員

An aerial view of the ancient city of Kashi, northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, August 9, 2025. /VCG

On September 19, 2025, the Chinese central government released a white paper titled "CPC Guidelines for Governing Xinjiang in the New Era: Practice and Achievements." Although it may appear to overseas readers as a document about regional policy, it functions as a valuable "laboratory report" for countries in the Global South facing challenges in counter-terrorism, poverty alleviation, multi-ethnic coexistence and modernization. This piece of opinion delves into the international significance of this report through four dimensions: context, core principles, achievements and strategic value.

Context: When the "century-defining transformation" meets the "frontier question"

Over the past decade, the world has been facing a series of significant challenges: the resurgence of extremism, the realignment of geopolitical corridors, and the final push in poverty alleviation. Fragmented terrorist activities have replaced large-scale battlefields, particularly in regions like the Middle East. In addition, the crises in the same region have underscored the importance of the Central Asia–Eurasian Land Bridge as an alternative route. According to the official data of the United Nations (UN), there are still 808 million people globally living in extreme poverty, with about 250 million being located in arid zones, high-altitude plateaus, and desert fringes, areas geographically similar to Xinjiang.

China has also been facing "frontier issues": from 2009 to 2014, Xinjiang accounted for over 70 percent of the nation's extremist incidents during that time; poverty rates in southern Xinjiang once surpassed 66 percent. How can the cycle of "extremism - poverty" be broken without falling into the trap of either "security overshadowing development" or "development obscuring identity"? This challenge forms the immediate context for the publication of the white paper.

Core Content: two principles and a handful of methods

The white paper distills the "The CPC's strategy for governing Xinjiang in the new era" into the following two pillars:

On the one hand, it focuses on maintaining social stability and long-term peace and order – this pillar transforms "security" from a reactive emergency measure into a preemptive institutional provision. As a result, it disrupts the cycle of violence through rule-of-law-based counter-terrorism, routinized community governance, and comprehensive de-extremification education. On the other hand, it concentrates on forging a sense of community for the Chinese nation – this pillar elevates "identity" from a mere cultural symbol to encompass shared economic prospects, a common language (Mandarin), and unified values (socialist core values), thus achieving an "identity enhancement" rather than "assimilation and obliteration."

Based on these pillars, the document also analyzes the following policy options: strategic coordination with systematic thinking, uniting hearts and minds through community engagement and dialogue, sinicizing religions by integrating traditional Chinese values with modern religious practices, prioritizing people's livelihoods by enhancing social welfare programs and improving living standards, pursuing high-quality development with sustainable economic growth and innovation, and upholding the Party's comprehensive leadership by ensuring strong governance and policy implementation. All together, these practices have formed a replicable "frontier governance toolkit" designed to address diverse challenges and foster stability and prosperity in various regions.

Practical achievements: the "governance of Xinjiang" by real data

As per the economic situation, Xinjiang's GDP growth has consistently outpaced the national average since 2014, registering 6.1 percentage in 2024, surpassing the national average by 1.5 percentage. By the end of 2024, Xinjiang's combined wind-and-solar power capacity has passed the 80 GW mark, which is very close to one-tenth of the national total amount, making Xinjiang one of the largest photovoltaic bases in Eurasia.

In terms of security, there have been zero extremist incidents since 2017, and the proportion of social governance expenditure in fiscal spending has decreased by 3.6 percentage points. As per poverty alleviation strategy, absolute poverty in the region was eradicated by the end of 2020, aligning with national targets. The average life expectancy in Xinjiang has indeed climbed from about 30 years in 1949 to 77 years in 2024, a level now sitting within two to three years of the latest average in the EU.

In terms of cultural development, a total of twelve intangible cultural heritage elements, such as the Uygur performance "Muqam" and the Kyrgyz epic "Manas," have been meticulously digitized and archived, now made accessible to global audiences through multilingual online platforms.

Therefore, this real data has demonstrated that security, development and identity-making are not an "impossible trinity," but rather a quantifiable virtuous cycle.

Strategic value: An open-source code for frontier governance in the world

The white paper is about China, but it also has broad meanings for the rest of the world. For global counter-terrorism: the strategy establishes a law-based framework and systematic measures for "preemptive de-radicalisation," emphasizing vocational education, language improvement and psychological intervention as routinized methods.

For countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the guideline presents a tripartite model of "corridors – hubs – industries," which integrates the planning of airports, railway ports and renewable energy parks to simultaneously develop logistics, energy and employment infrastructure, thereby avoiding the creation of "hollowed-out corridors."

For countries with multi-ethnicity, this strategy outlines an "identity enhancement" pathway, transforming ethnic differences from obstacles into assets. This can be achieved through shared markets, public services and digital cultural platforms, providing alternative approaches for countries facing similar challenges.

For global governance, it even addresses the "frontier governance" gap. Over the past two decades, Western think tanks have predominantly focused on "urban governance," despite over 40 percent of Earth's landmass comprising arid, high-altitude or polar frontier regions. The governance in Xinjiang exemplifies the integration of "security-development-ecology" three-dimensional indicators into a cohesive framework, providing innovative monitoring tools for the UN 2030 Agenda.

In short, the white paper is not an endpoint but rather the starting point of an open-source project. Just as Xinjiang has established photovoltaic power stations at the heart of the Taklamakan Desert, governance innovation must undergo stress testing at the "edges of human activity." For a world still seeking equilibrium between security and prosperity as well as between governance and development, this document offers one verifiable and iterable code, which is also precisely the public good most needed by the Global South.

文章來源：CGTN

微信編輯：張菁菁

人大國發院是中國人民大學集全校之力重點打造的中國特色新型高校智庫，現任理事長為學校黨委書記張東剛，現任院長為校長林尚立。2015年入選全國首批“國家高端智庫”建設試點單位，并入選全球智庫百強，2018年初在“中國大學智庫機構百強排行榜”中名列第一。2019年在國家高端智庫綜合評估中入選第一檔次梯隊，是唯一入選第一檔次梯隊的高校智庫。

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