BEIJING, March 18 (AFP) - China on Thursday lashed out at a US House of Representatives resolution that urged Beijing to end its "persecution" of the outlawed Falungong spiritual group.

"The US House of Representatives passed a so-called resolution on Falungong which made groundless accusations and confuses right and wrong," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.

"China is firmly against such a resolution."

The House voted nearly unanimously on Tuesday to call on China to free thousands of members of the movement who are said to be imprisoned and to abolish a government office tasked with fighting the Falungong.

The resolution, which is not legally binding, asked China to "immediately cease and desist from its campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison and torture Falungong practitioners."

Falungong -- loosely based on Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian philosophies -- enjoyed growing popularity among Chinese in the 1990s.

China's communist government banned the movement in 1999 and later branded it an "evil cult" after thousands of practitioners silently converged in Beijing to air their grievances, showing their organisational might.

"Falungong is an anti-human, anti-society and anti-science cult," Qin said.

"The Chinese government outlawed the cult according to law. We hope the US congressmen recognise the nature of the cult and stop interfering in China's internal affairs."