High-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, and building a modern socialist country in an all-round way requires a solid material and technological foundation. Xinjiang's work plays a special and important role in the overall work of the Party and the country, and is related to the overall situation of building a strong country and national rejuvenation. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has put forward important statements such as "governing the country must govern the border" and "promoting the border and enriching the people, stabilizing the border and strengthening the border", which has provided guidance and guidance for accelerating the high-quality development of border ethnic areas. Cadres and people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang have worked hard in the direction guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping and have made major breakthroughs in all areas of economic and social development. The problem of absolute poverty that has plagued Xinjiang for thousands of years has been historicly resolved, and Xinjiang, together with the whole country, has built a moderately prosperous society in all respects; in 2024, the regional GDP increased by 6.1% year-on-year, breaking through the 2 trillion yuan mark; the scale of trade continues to increase, and the total import and export volume exceeded 200 billion yuan, 300 billion yuan and 400 billion yuan marks in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. On the new journey, the foundation for "stable" economic and social development in Xinjiang has become more solid, the momentum for "advance" has been significantly enhanced, and the quality and efficiency of "new" has been greatly improved.

Xinjiang faces new opportunities and needs to make new achievements in building a new development pattern, promoting high-quality development, and promoting Chinese-style modernization. We must fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, guide Xinjiang's high-quality development with the new development concept, and make great efforts to implement the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, open and shared.

First, promote innovative development and develop new quality productivity according to local conditions. Innovation is the first driving force. To promote high-quality development in Xinjiang, the first thing is to emancipate the mind and form an innovative consciousness and innovative thinking that adapts to the new situation, new conditions, new goals and new requirements, so as to further deepen reforms in an all-round way and remove institutional and mechanism barriers. Technological innovation is the core element of developing new quality productivity. We must make breakthroughs in developing new quality productivity according to local conditions, further promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, implement the innovation-driven development strategy, continuously optimize the system and mechanism of scientific and technological innovation, increase support for technological innovation, fully stimulate and release the vitality of Xinjiang scientific and technological talents, and shape new development momentum and new advantages. For example, Xinjiang has rich mineral resources, and driving economic growth through the development of various mineral resources is an important way to promote development. However, at the same time, we need to pay attention to avoiding excessive dependence on natural resource development. While "Xinjiang coal transportation" and "Xinjiang electricity transmission", we should actively cultivate strategic emerging industries, accelerate the development of the digital economy, and cultivate new growth points. In 2024, the first intelligent computing center in Xinjiang will be completed and put into use in Karamay, and the "Xinjiang Computing Enters Chongqing" will be included in the national data infrastructure construction pilot project, and the scale of intelligent computing power will be built. Xinjiang Intelligent Computing has achieved a historic breakthrough of "from nothing to something". Looking to the future, we need to make further efforts in the new economy field, plan relevant measures to cultivate new quality productivity, implement the "Artificial Intelligence " action in depth, accelerate the cultivation and development of emerging industries and future industries such as low-altitude economy, green computing power, hydrogen energy industry, biomanufacturing, quantum technology, commercial aerospace, and cultivate innovative enterprises in a gradient manner.

Second, promote coordinated development and promote regional coordination and urban-rural integration. The requirements for coordinated development are reflected in multiple levels and aspects. From a national perspective, we need to plan high-quality development in Xinjiang from the overall perspective of modernization construction, and actively connect with major regional strategies such as coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, and the construction of the new western land-sea channel. At the same time, we will carry out counterpart assistance to Xinjiang with higher quality, deepen the assistance to Xinjiang with science and technology, education, medical care and industrial, and further deepen and expand the "group-style" assistance to Xinjiang. Starting from Xinjiang itself, we need to focus on promoting urban-rural integrated development and promoting people-oriented new urbanization construction. We must not only adhere to the integrated planning of military and urban construction, build the Urumqi urban circle, Kashgar urban circle, Tianshan northern slope urban agglomeration, the northern border urban belt, and the Tarim Basin urban belt, but also strengthen the construction of key towns along the border, central towns and border new villages to consolidate the border and enrich the people, and achieve strengthening the border. We must also focus on improving the level of rural development, deeply explore rural characteristic resources, implement brand strategies, cultivate new rural industries and new business formats, continuously strengthen county-level people-enriching industries, promote the integrated development of rural primary, second and third industries, and continuously consolidate and expand the results of poverty alleviation.

Third, promote green development and deepen the construction of a beautiful Xinjiang. Green development is the background color of high-quality development. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "We must adhere to the concept that green waters and green mountains are gold and silver mountains, resolutely defend the red line of ecological protection, coordinate the construction of desertification control and water control and forest and grassland protection, so that the sky of beautiful Xinjiang will be bluer, the mountains will be greener, and the water will be clearer." In recent years, Xinjiang has continued to strengthen ecological environment protection and construction, and the pace of green and low-carbon development has accelerated. In 2024, the first batch of national carbon peak pilot construction in Karamay City and Kuqa Economic and Technological Development Zone was launched, and the Kuitun-Dushanzi Economic Development Zone was selected as a national-level "waste-free park", and the scale of green electricity and green certificate transactions increased significantly. Looking to the future, we need to accelerate the transformation of energy conservation and carbon reduction and the update of energy-using equipment, promote clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient use of energy, promote the construction of "waste-free cities" and a number of zero-carbon parks with high standards, strengthen the recycling of urban and industrial sewage, and expand the scale of medium- and long-term green trading of electricity. At the same time, we will continue to promote the protection and restoration of ecosystems, and systematically promote the integrated protection and governance of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands and sands, so that Xinjiang's sky will be bluer, mountains will be greener and water will be clearer.

Fourth, promote open development and actively promote high-level opening up to the outside world. Xinjiang has obvious location advantages and has achieved remarkable results in expanding high-level opening up. In 2024, the construction of the core area of ​​the Silk Road Economic Belt was accelerated, and the annual transit of China-Europe (Asia) trains increased by 14%, reaching 16,400 trains; the construction of the free trade pilot zone was efficiently promoted, 129 reform tasks were fully launched, and 35 provincial institutional innovation achievements and typical cases were formed. To further promote high-quality development in Xinjiang, we must give full play to Xinjiang's unique location advantages, transform it into actual efficiency, actively serve and integrate into the new development pattern, and do a good job in opening up to the outside world based on reality. We can rely on our super-large-scale market advantages to attract global resource elements with the domestic circulation, and enhance the linkage effect of the two domestic and international markets; accelerate the implementation of the overall plan reform tasks of the Xinjiang Free Trade Pilot Zone, and concentrate on launching a number of institutional innovation results with great influence, wide coverage and high system integration; expand practical cooperation with neighboring countries and regions, continue to strengthen in-depth cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, energy, science and technology, agriculture, tourism, etc., vigorously develop service trade, green trade, digital trade, and intermediate goods trade, so that Xinjiang's door to open wider and more partners will be opened.

Fifth, promote shared development and make development achievements more and more equitable to people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. To fully build a socialist modern power, no nation can be left behind; to promote Chinese-style modernization, no border areas can be left behind. Improving people's livelihood and uniting people's hearts are the core essence of Xinjiang's high-quality development. We must focus on solving the urgent, difficult and anxious problems of the people, and continuously improve the sense of gain, happiness and security of the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. We must not only take multiple measures to stabilize and expand employment, implement the employment priority strategy, implement the employment support plan for key areas, key industries, urban and rural grassroots and small and medium-sized enterprises, continue to pay attention to the employment of key groups such as college graduates, rural labor, and people with employment difficulties, and promote high-quality and full employment, but also weave a tight and solid social security network, continuously improve the stratified and classified social assistance system, and effectively protect the bottom line of people's livelihood. We must also promote the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, consolidate and expand the results of poverty alleviation, and effectively prevent large-scale poverty relapse. In short, we must insist on following people's livelihood to promote high-quality development in Xinjiang.

Promoting high-quality development in Xinjiang is a systematic project. We must fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the Party’s Xinjiang governance strategy in the new era and lead and promote high-quality development with the new development concept. At the same time, we will better coordinate development and security, openness and security, further comprehensively deepen reforms, expand high-level opening up, create high-quality life, innovate high-efficiency governance, ensure high-level security, and promote the practice of Chinese-style modern Xinjiang to take new and solid steps.

(The author is a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a first-level researcher at the China Frontier Research Institute)