BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives, with a group of politicians who may have never set foot on Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has passed a bill related to the northwest China region, criticizing the human rights situation there.
The approval of the so-called "Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019" plainly reveals the true nature of the United States as a hegemonic power that wantonly meddles in the internal affairs of other countries.
The true purpose of the U.S. politicians is not caring about the wellbeing of people in Xinjiang, but to sow discord among different ethnic groups in China, undermine prosperity and stability in Xinjiang, and contain China's growth.
It is common sense that Xinjiang affairs are purely China's internal affairs. The issue in Xinjiang is not about ethnicity, religion or human rights, but rather about fighting violence, terrorism and separatism.
The bill, however, has deliberately overlooked the facts.
It has overlooked that from 1990 to 2016, ethnic separatist forces, extremist forces and violent terrorist forces had carried out thousands of violent terrorist incidents in Xinjiang, killing innocent people and police officers, and seriously undermining stability and peace in the region.
The autonomous regional government has, according to the law, adopted a series of anti-terrorism and de-radicalization measures, including setting up education and training institutions, which has turned around the security situation in Xinjiang.
The bill has also overlooked the fact that in the past three years, no terrorist attack has occurred in Xinjiang and the whole society remains stable and peaceful.
U.S. politicians have also turned a blind eye to comments from the international society. Since the end of 2018, over 1,000 representatives have visited Xinjiang in more than 70 groups, including officials from various countries, regions and international organizations, and people from the press, religious groups and academic circles. They acclaimed that Xinjiang's experience in counter-terrorism and de-radicalization was worth learning from.
In March this year, the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopted a resolution that commended China's efforts in providing care to Muslim citizens. In July, ambassadors of over 50 countries to the United Nations Office at Geneva co-signed a letter to the president of the UN Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, applauding China's respect and protection of human rights in its counter-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts.
In October, at the Third Committee session of the 74th UN General Assembly, more than 60 countries also commended in their statements the tremendous human rights progress achieved in Xinjiang.
When it comes to terrorism, the United States should be among those who have felt the worst pain. The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 have not faded from the memories of people worldwide and we have also witnessed how resolute the United States has been in countering terrorism.
Adopting double standards on counter-terrorism is not right, even for political gains.
The United States should not underestimate the determinations of the Chinese government and people in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests.
If the United States does not correct its mistakes in time and prevent this bill from becoming law, it will only have itself to blame for any further reactions from China.