Source: Global Times    Published: 2015-12-9

China`s "One Belt, One Road" initiative, described by some analysts as a new round of reform and opening-up, has highlighted Xinjiang as a core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

This will certainly bring new opportunities for Xinjiang`s economic development, but it also requires the region to deepen reforms and open up to the outside world at the same time.

As part of these efforts, local authorities in Xinjiang announced in August that they would streamline the procedure for passport applications and offer equal treatment to applicants of different ethnicities.

Because getting a passport has generally been complicated and more time-consuming in Xinjiang than in other areas of China due to the terrorism threat faced by the region, local residents have shown great enthusiasm for the new policy, and 213,708 passports were issued from August 5 to November 19, up 240.8 percent compared to the same period last year, according to local news portal ts.cn.

There is no doubt that such policies could help to boost business exchanges between Xinjiang and other areas of the world, and therefore revitalize the economy in the northwest of China. As Xinjiang is pivotal for the revival of the Silk Road, the region has a new opportunity to boost its process of internationalization.

The process involves several aspects, including the emerging cross-border e-commerce business. Xinjiang`s first cross-border e-commerce industrial park has been set up in Khorgos and over 100 Internet enterprises are expected to be registered there by 2016.

Also, Xinjiang`s non-financial outbound direct investment rose by 97.7 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months this year, and the region is working on turning itself into a key manufacturing base for overseas markets in Central Asia.

According to a report by the Xinhua News Agency, the slogan "Shenzhen in the east, Kashgar in the west" has become emblematic of Kashgar`s new status as a special economic zone, in the same way that Shenzhen came to prominence at the beginning of China`s reform and opening-up in the 1980s. The report said Kashgar, an important ancient Silk Road town in southwest Xinjiang, plans to work closely with neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, just as Shenzhen`s success relies heavily on neighboring Hong Kong.

As Xinjiang boosts its business exchanges amid the new round of reform and opening-up, a collision of cultures could prove a challenge.

The other challenge Xinjiang faces is how to root out local Xinjiang connections with external terrorists as the region builds the exchange of goods and personnel with the Islamic world. A series of terrorist attacks, including the Tiananmen Square attack in 2013, has suggested that terror forces in Xinjiang may be being supported by foreign terrorist organizations. As Xinjiang`s separatist forces have these overseas connections, more efforts should be made to defend social stability in the province and guard against extremism and terrorism.

It is perhaps the right time for China to think calmly and seriously about how to deal with challenges and risks brought by the internationalization process in Xinjiang, while also looking forward to potential economic achievements from the "One Belt, One Road" initiative.