BEIJING - China on Thursday issued a white paper on ethnic equality, unity and development in Xinjiang, stating that the development and progress in Xinjiang mark the successful implementation of China's system of ethnic regional autonomy in the region.

The white paper, titled "Historical Witness to Ethnic Equality, Unity and Development in Xinjiang" and issued by the State Council Information Office, stressed that implementing regional autonomy in areas where ethnic minorities live in concentrated communities is a basic political system of China and is an important step on the correct path of handling ethnic issues in a Chinese manner.

Also, the white paper noted that Xinjiang has been home to people of many of Chinese ethnic groups since ancient times and that the system of ethnic regional autonomy in the region is a measure that accords with the situation in China and with the realities in Xinjiang.

The system acts as "a bulwark to national unification and to the equality, unity and development of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang," it added.