China Appoints Guangdong Governor as New Xinjiang Party Chief

(Bloomberg) -- China appointed the governor of the southern province of Guangdong as the new Communist Party chief for the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Ma Xingrui will become Xinjiang’s party secretary, replacing incumbent Chen Quanguo, Xinhua said on Saturday. Chen will assume a new role, the report said, without giving further details.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law a bill banning goods from Xinjiang unless companies can prove they aren’t made with forced labor amid allegations about the oppression of Uygur Muslims in a region that holds a major place in global supply chains. China has vehemently denied such allegations.

Xinjiang is a source for cotton used in clothing and is a key location for producing polysilicon used in solar panels, seen as crucial in the global shift away from fossil fuels. 

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With assistance from Bloomberg