China has replaced its hard-line Communist party chief in Xinjiang province with a media-savvy politician with economic training more than nine months after the country's worst ethnic riots in decades claimed almost 200 lives in the country's restive western region.
Zhang Chunxian, the 57-year-old party chief of Hunan province, has succeeded 65-year-old Wang Lequan, who has led Xinjiang for 15 years as party secretary, the Xinhua official news agency said.
The change of guard comes with a broader policy adjustment. The politbureau decided on Friday that economic and social improvements should be given priority in the region, marking a departure from Mr Wang's formula of “stability above all else”.