Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for the first time in eight years.

State-run China Central Television said he visited Urumqi, Turpan, and other cities during a four-day tour that ended on Friday.

Xi spoke at a logistics hub in Urumqi for China-Europe freight trains. He said Xinjiang is no longer a remote region, but a core hub in Beijing's Belt and Road economic initiative.

An explosion occurred at a railway station in Urumqi shortly after Xi's last visit to the region in 2014. The incident prompted the Communist party to tighten its grip over the region.

Europe and the United States have grown increasingly critical of Beijing's treatment of certain ethnic minorities, even using the word genocide.

In the United States, a law that bans all imports of goods produced using forced labor went into effect in June, effectively shutting out items from Xinjiang.

Xi is seeking an unprecedented third term as party leader. Observers say the visit to Xinjiang could be an attempt to show that his handling of the region has been a success.