BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- A sequence of counterterrorism efforts necessitated by the situation in Xinjiang have proven effective in protecting people's rights to life, health and development, and maintaining the region's peace and stability.

Once a repeated victim of terrorist attacks, the vast region has achieved remarkable progress with the implementation of anti-terrorism policies and measures.

Memories of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang are too fresh to be forgotten. Incomplete statistics show that from 1990 to the end of 2016, separatist, terrorist and extremist forces launched thousands of terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, killing large numbers of innocent people and hundreds of police officers, and causing immeasurable damage to property.

In a bid to prevent terrorism, as well as separatism and extremism, from wreaking havoc on the region, Xinjiang has taken consistent and resolute measures against those "evil forces" to protect people's rights and safety.

Based on the Constitution and relevant laws, Xinjiang rolled out a series of local regulations in light of the realities of Xinjiang, providing a powerful legal weapon to combat terrorism and extremism.

Vocational education and training centers set up in Xinjiang have also played an important role in counterterrorism and deradicalization. Preventative in nature, the centers help people who are deceived by or have even participated in terrorist forces and committed minor offenses get rid of extremist ideologies and acquire vocational skills.

Thanks to those efforts, there has not been a single violent terrorist attack in Xinjiang for three years in a row. People's rights to life, health and development have been fully guaranteed.

The region has been making constant efforts to improve human rights and the living standards.

People of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang enjoy full freedom of religious belief. Normal religious activities have been protected in accordance with the law.

In Xinjiang, there are more than 24,000 mosques, representing a mosque for every 530 Muslims on average.

Ethnic languages and culture have been widely used and developed in various fields including judicial, administration, education, press and publication, radio and television, internet, social and public affairs.

Public services, such as free health checkups for all, critical illness insurance, free preschool education for rural children, and housing projects for herders and farmers, have brought people a strong sense of fulfillment and happiness.

It is fair to say that Xinjiang is now in the best period of prosperity and development in history.

However, these important and basic facts have been ignored by some anti-China forces, which turn a deaf ear to the heavy innocent casualties in terrorist attacks and turn a blind eye to all the progress Xinjiang has made.

Only the people in Xinjiang know the best about and have the best say in the real situation of the region, and no force can stop the region's steps forward.