Musical instrument maker Rahman crafts a rewap, a traditional Uyghur musical instrument, in his work studio in Shufu county of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on April 12, 2017. (Photo: Xinhua)

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will assign lawyers to poor villages to provide legal support to major policies and administrative acts.

Chinese experts said the move was especially necessary in Xinjiang and will help avoid legal disputes due to misunderstandings on ethnic and religious affairs. 

The lawyers will be responsible for identifying illegal behavior by internet finance businesses in Xinjiang, providing legal advice for poverty alleviation and environment protection.

Lawyers will be arranged for poor villages as legal counselors. They will hold legal argument meetings for local policy makers on major policy and administrative acts as well as providing legal service to local companies on environment protection.

Wang Jiang, Party secretary of Communist Party of China Xinjiang regional justice department committee, announced the establishment of the lawyers team on Saturday at a session of the region's ninth Lawyers' Congress, Legal Daily reported on Sunday. 

The move aims to safeguard social stability, according to a constitution of the Xinjiang regional lawyers' association, Legal Daily said. 

"Some residents in Xinjiang with religious belief tended to put doctrines above laws," Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Chongqing Municipal Committee, told the Global Times on Monday. "Professional legal support can help them avoid disputes and conflicts."

Differences in ethnic groups' living habits add to the complexity of battles against poverty and pollution. 

"Take environmental protection as an example, nomads in Xinjiang may not regard household waste as a kind of pollution as they have been living this way for a long time," Su said.

Xinjiang, heavily reliant on energy and resources exploitation for economic growth, still faces environmental issues including outdated production capacity, air and water pollution, Xinhua reported. 

Lawyers based in Xinjiang pointed out the regional government is taking strict measures to fight poverty and pollution.

Pu Yuxia, a member of the Xinjiang regional lawyers' association, told the Global Times that the regional government would weekly check factories, chemical and steel plants. If they discovered discharge over legal limits, the regional government would shut down the factory, Pu said.

Some 1,613 people in Xinjiang were held accountable for environmental problems after a national inspection from August to September.