BEIJING -- The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, on Wednesday issued a statement, expressing strong indignation over and firm opposition to the passing of a bill on Xinjiang-related issues by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the so-called "Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019" on Tuesday local time, maliciously attacking the human rights conditions in Xinjiang, slandering China's de-radicalization and anti-terrorism efforts, making groundless accusations against the Chinese government's Xinjiang policies and grossly interfering in China's internal affairs, said the statement.

In China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, vocational education and training centers have been established and education and training work is carried out in line with the National Security Law of the People's Republic of China, Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, Counterterrorism Law of the People's Republic of China, Regulations on Religious Affairs, and two local regulations -- the Measures of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Implementing the Counter-terrorism Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Regulations of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Deradicalization.

Vocational education and training centers are established and run in Xinjiang with an aim to prevent the breeding and spread of terrorism and religious extremism and effectively curb frequent terrorist incidents and protecting the rights to life, health, and development of the people of all ethnic groups, the statement said.

"In doing so, this serves as the best protection of human rights of all the people and proves a major contribution to the cause of international counter-terrorism," it said.

Terrorism and extremism are the common enemies of humanity, and the fight against terrorism and extremism is the shared responsibility of the international community, the statement noted.

"Facts have proved that the measures taken by the Chinese side are effective, and security situation has improved markedly in Xinjiang where there have been no violent, terrorist incidents in the past three years," it said.

Regrettably, however, the U.S. has not only turned a blind eye to Xinjiang's efforts to fight terrorism and protect human rights in accordance with the law, turned a blind eye to Xinjiang's economic growth, social stability, ethnic solidarity, and harmony among religions, but also opted to fabricate facts and smear China's efforts in counter-terrorism and de-radicalization, the statement said.

"This is a typical double standard on counter-terrorism issues and exposes its hypocrisy on human rights issues," the statement said.

"We firmly oppose interference in China's domestic affairs under the pretext of human rights by any external force," the statement said, urging the U.S. to abandon its political bias, abandon its erroneous practice of pressuring China, stop making baseless accusations against China, stop interfering in China's internal affairs, and stop putting obstacles in the way of the development of China-U.S. relations and the cooperation between the two sides for counter-terrorism, it said.