The central government has already paired up a number of municipalities and provinces with different parts of Xinjiang to provide the latter with large sums of capital, technology and talent. These have played an important role in the region's development, according to Wang.

"All those supports are external factors and we cannot merely depend on that, as I found some local officials are doing," Wang said. "We have to decide what we should do and what will be of the greatest benefit. We also have to be prepared before assistance arrives. There is no time to waste."

The central government's plan is also designed to help the local economy catch up with the eastern coastal provinces.

Wang said that although Xinjiang is the most distant region from the east coast, it has the advantages of opening up to the west.

The far west autonomous region shares borders with Russia, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

"Xinjiang should be receptive to increased trade. At the moment, many ports on its border countries have yet to open up, " said Zhao Xia, president of Baosteel Group Xinjiang Bayi Steel, the biggest steel maker in Xinjiang.

If an ethnic minority region like Xinjiang is underdeveloped compared to other areas, it could easily be used by separatists to instigate unrest, he added.