Two top Communist Party officials from the Xinjiang Region said security there has improved in the past year and passport restrictions have been lifted.

CCTV’s Han Peng reports from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Xinjiang was rocked by terrorist attacks in 2013 and 2014, but there have been few reports of violence in the last year. However reporters still sought answers about the region’s security at a press conference with the Xinjiang delegation of the National People’s Congress on Wednesday.

Xinjiang Party Chief Zhang Chunxian said that security in the region is improving and the number of terrorist attacks have dropped by a large margin. Authorities are also more capable of preventing and handling terrorist threats, he added.

Last year Zhang confirmed for the first time that Islamic State had reached Xinjiang. He said some residents had illegally crossed the border, received Jihadist training in Syria, and returned to Xinjiang with plans for more bloody atrocities. Officials said there were also cases of residents joining overseas terrorist organizations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Officials warned that despite improved security, overseas terrorists have not stopped their attempts to infiltrate Xinjiang and propagate extremist ideologies.

Deputies from Xinjiang also said that terrorism should not characterize the whole region. They said Xinjiang has beautiful landscape, friendly people, and fast economic growth.