URUMQI, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Chunxian was elected secretary of northwest China's Xinjiang Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Monday.

Zhang was elected to the post at the first plenary session of the 8th CPC Xinjiang Regional Committee held in Urumqi, capital of the Uygur autonomous region.

Zhang was appointed to the current position in April 2010 after serving as the Communist Party chief of Hunan Province for five years. Earlier he was the country's transport minister between 2002 and 2005.

Zhang, 58 and a native of Yuzhou of Henan Province, is a member of the 17th CPC Central Committee.