BEIJING -- The appointment of the governor of economic powerhouse Guangdong Province as the new Xinjiang party chief offers yet another sign that Chinese President Xi Jinping is consolidating his power ahead of his appointment for a third term.
Ma Xingrui has replaced Chen Quanguo, who since his appointment in 2016 had overseen Beijing's security crackdown in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a vast area accounting for one-sixth of the nation's landmass.
