On July 1, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that Politburo member Ma Xingrui (马兴瑞) would step down as Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and be reassigned (but not announced). Chen Xiaojiang (陈小江), Executive Vice Minister of the CCP United Front Work Department, was appointed as the new Xinjiang Party Secretary.
Ma Xingrui, a key figure in China’s military-industrial sector, was promoted by Xi Jinping and is also a fellow native of Yuncheng City, Shandong Province, the hometown of Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan.
Chen Xiaojiang, born in June 1962, rose through the ranks in the Ministry of Water Resources. He served both the Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Deputy Secretary of the CCP United Front Work Department before the new appointment.
There were two theories on Chen’s appointment.
1. Chen has deep ties to former CCP head Hu Jintao and former Premier Wen Jiabao.
From 1993 to 1998, Chen served as Editor-in-Chief, President, and Party Secretary of China Water Resources News, under Niu Maosheng (钮茂生), then Minister of Water Resources. Chen was promoted to Executive Deputy Secretary of the Ministry’s Party Committee shortly before Niu’s retirement in September 1998. Niu was Wen Jiabao’s assistant – he worked as Deputy Secretary of the Central State Organs Work Committee (中共中央国家机关工委) from 1990 to 1993 when Wen Jiabao served as Director of the CCP General Office.
From 1998 to 2007, Chen continued as Executive Deputy Secretary of the Ministry’s Party Committee under Minister Wang Shuchen (汪恕诚). Wang was a classmate of Hu Jintao and his wife Liu Yongqing at Tsinghua University, and they often attended class reunions together.
From 2007 to 2018, Chen was under Minister Chen Lei (陈雷). In April 2008, Chen Xiaojiang became Director of the Ministry’s General Office, essentially serving as Chen Lei’s chief aide. Chen served under former Ministers Niu and Wang.
While holding his position in the Ministry of Water Resources, Chen Xiaojiang was assigned to Gansu Province from October 2001 to March 2004, where he successively served as Deputy Secretary-General and Director of the Gansu Provincial Government Office, acting as the chief aide to then-Governor Lu Hao (陆浩). Both Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao had spent key phases of their early political careers in Gansu Province.
2. The CCP needs to use a iron fist to control Xinjiang.
Exiled political analyst Yuan Hongbing pointed out that recent Middle East shifts post a potential threat to Beijing’s control of Xinjiang. The fall of Syria’s Assad regime, partly due to Uyghur-led rebel forces, has prompted these groups to plan their return to Xinjiang for more activities. They even adjusted their strategy to target the CCP’s security forces, avoiding civilian attacks.
Beijing initially appointed Ma Xingrui to focus on economic development to stabilize Xinjiang. Now, facing rising political and security threats, the CCP puts Chen there, for his hardline stance and experience in ethnic affairs and security work.
Sources:
1. Epoch Times, July 2, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/7/2/n14543198.htm
2. Epoch Times, July 3, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/7/3/n14543823.htm