Chinese leaders: Crisis also means opportunity

In a panel discussion with NPC deputies from the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Vice Premier Li Keqiang said China can enjoy large room for economic manoeuvre due to its vast territory and the high mutual complementarity in economy between different regions.

Li Keqiang (front, 2nd R), member of the Standing Committee  of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China  (CPC) Central Committee, attends the panel discussion of  deputies to the Second Session of the 11th National  People's Congress (NPC) from northwest China's Xinjiang  Uygur Autonomous Region, in Beijing, capital of China,  March 7, 2009. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)

"We should turn challenges into opportunities, boost the development of the western region, make full use of advantages (of different regions), tap the market, speed up industrial restructuring, and cultivate new economic growth areas so as to keep a steady and relatively fast economic growth," Li said.

He said Xinjiang enjoys a particularly important strategic status for the country's development and stability. Efforts should be made to secure Xinjiang's stable and prosperous development, enrich people and safeguard the frontiers and strengthen national unity and social stability, he said.