ANKARA

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a grand gathering Thursday celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, state media reported.

Xi, who is also the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, attended the gala in Urumqi, the regional capital, Xinhua News Agency reported.

He is the first Chinese president to attend a founding anniversary celebration in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Xi joined local officials and members of the public “from all ethnic groups and all walks of life” in the event.

He arrived in Urumqi on Tuesday, leading a delegation that included Communist Party ideologue Wang Huning and Cai Qi, his chief of staff.

Founded in October 1955, Xinjiang is one of China’s five autonomous regions with a significant ethnic minority population. It is home to over 10 million Uyghurs who are predominantly Muslim.

The Turkic Muslim group, which makes up around 45% of the region’s population, has long accused China of cultural, religious and economic discrimination. Beijing denies the allegations.

Covering approximately one-sixth of China’s total land mass, Xinjiang lies at the crossroads of the historic Silk Road and currently provides a strategic land route connecting Beijing to the Arabian Sea via the Karakoram Highway through Pakistan.

The region has a population of over 25 million and is divided into 14 prefectures and more than 90 counties.

China also shares a narrow land connection with Afghanistan via the Wakhan Corridor, offering the landlocked country direct access to the world’s second-largest economy through Xinjiang.

China shares borders with Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Mongolia and India through Xinjiang.

In 2010 and 2014, China’s central government held two meetings to discuss Xinjiang-related policy, laying down what it called “guiding principles and strategies” for governance in the region, according to the State Council Information Office.

In July this year, Xi also became the first Chinese president to attend an event marking the founding anniversary of the Tibet Autonomous Region. This year marked the 60th anniversary of the southwestern region.