URUMQI - The people's government of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Friday strongly condemned and firmly opposed the United States' signing into law of the so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act."

In recent years, Xinjiang has taken employment creation as its top priority for improving livelihood, and basically achieved full employment for those who are able to work, the regional government said in a statement.

The total number of employed people in Xinjiang has increased from about 11.35 million in 2014 to 13.56 million in 2020, up 19.4 percent, it added.

While striving to promote employment, Xinjiang strictly protects people's legitimate rights and interests pertaining to labor in accordance with law. No so-called "forced labor" ever took place in the region, said the statement.

The United States, however, has erred and misbehaved in dealing with labor issues, and has not yet signed most international labor conventions so far, it said.

Xinjiang affairs are purely part of China's domestic affairs, and no foreign governments or external forces have the right to interfere, it said.

The so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" is nothing but a piece of waste paper, and will not affect Xinjiang's development and progress at all, it said.