China leader visits Xinjiang amid human rights concerns

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, centre, visits the community of Guyuanxiang in the Tianshan District in Urumqi (Xinhua via AP)

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has visited the north-western Xinjiang region this week amid concerns over China’s detention of a million or more members of primarily Muslim ethnic native minorities.

Mr Xi called Xinjiang a “core area and a hub” in China’s programme of building ports, railways and power stations connecting it to economies reaching from Central Asia to Eastern Europe, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.