China replaced the unpopular Communist Party boss for a restive, far-western region on Saturday, months after ethnic riots there killed nearly 200, AP reported. State media reports gave no immediate reason for removing Wang Lequan, 65, who had served as party boss in Xinjiang since 1995. Wang was in charge last July when bloody street riots in the regional capital of Urumqi pitted minority Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) against ethnic majority Han Chinese. Almost 200 people were killed, mostly Han, in the country's worst communal violence in decades. The Uighurs see Xinjiang as their homeland and resent the Han Chinese who have moved into the region in recent decades. A simmering separatist campaign has occasionally boiled over into violence in the past 20 years. Overseas Uighur activist Dilxat Raxit said the change in leaders was not enough. He said Uighurs need more political rights and input into decision making. «China must make fundamental changes in the way of ruling through suppression in Xinjiang and respect the political demands of the Uighur people,» said Raxit, spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress. The government says it has poured billions of dollars into the area and substantially raised living standards. -- SPA
