Uyghur Times, December 18, 2023
According to a report from the Xinjiang Daily, the official mouthpiece of the regional government, the national supply and marketing cooperative system’s paired assistance to Xinjiang cooperation and production-sales docking meeting was held on the morning of December 18th in Urumqi. Zhang Zhu, Deputy Secretary of the Autonomous Region Party Committee and Director of the Organization Department, attended the meeting.
As a common practice in China’s non-transparent and dictatorial appointments of senior officials in the Uyghur region, conducted without public participation or public knowledge, the Chinese media stated, ‘This news indicates that Zhang Zhu has been appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Party Committee.
Such practices are against the REGIONAL ETHNIC AUTONOMY LAW OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
Zhang Zhu, who has experience working with Hui Muslims in Ningxia, a Muslim region, holds the position of Director of the Organization Department in the Uyghur homeland, giving him extensive knowledge of the personnel, cadres, and staff in the region.
Who is Zhang Zhu (张柱)?
According to Chinese sources, Zhang Zhu is a male of Han Chinese ethnicity, born in February 1968 in Tongxin, Ningxia. He has worked in Ningxia for a long time and has held positions such as Director of the Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and Party Secretary of the Zhongwei Municipal Committee. In June 2017, he was promoted to a member of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Party Committee, concurrently serving as Secretary of the Guyuan Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Yinchuan Municipal Committee. In September 2021, Zhang Zhu arrived in the Uyghur homeland (Xinjiang) and served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Director of the Organization Department of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (新疆维吾尔自治区党委常委、组织部部长).
