China appoints new military commander in restive Xinjiang

China has appointed a new military commander in restive Xinjiang where authorities have locked up more than a million members of Muslim minorities in what they call a bid to curb terrorism and radicalism. Lt. Gen. Wang Haijiang will oversee a massive military presence in the sprawling northwestern region that borders on several unstable Central Asian states, along with Pakistan and Afghanistan, from which U.S. troops are withdrawing. Like Xinjiang’s hardline Communist Party chief Chen Quanguo, Wang previously served in Tibet, which also hosts large numbers of troops to suppress anti-government sentiment among the native Tibetan population and guard the disputed border with India, where the two nations had a deadly clash last year.