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ABC News
3 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
Ten people killed and more than 30 others missing in China floods
Ten people are dead and 33 missing after flash floods and mudslides hit north-west China's Gansu province, state media reported, the latest disaster in a series of lethal weather events to hit the country. Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered "utmost effort" in rescuing the missing people on Friday, state broadcaster CCTV said. Due to the "frequent occurrence of extreme weather", Mr Xi ordered all regions to "resolutely overcome complacency" and strengthen efforts to identify risks, the broadcaster added. Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer, when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat. From August 7, "continuous heavy rain" in Gansu triggered flash floods, with the death toll on Friday afternoon standing at 10, CCTV said. Local authorities had issued the highest-level emergency warning for flash floods overnight. A video shared by the Communist Party-backed People's Daily showed more than a dozen rescuers clinging to a rope as they pushed through torrents of mud, while photos posted by Gansu's government showed roads covered in silt and large stones. Heavy rains trapped 4,000 people living in the mountainous Xinglong area and pushed garbage into roads, CCTV reported earlier Friday. Three people were missing after a mudslide in Maliantan village, it said. Footage shared by Chinese fire authorities on Weibo showed rescuers in Maliantan guiding people through rushing grey water. Beijing's top economic planner said it was allocating 100 million yuan ($21.3 million) towards disaster relief in Gansu. Local weather authorities at midday on Friday predicted more rain in some areas, including near the Yellow River -- China's second-biggest waterway. The country's south has also experienced torrential downpours this week. CCTV reported Friday that all seven people missing after a landslide in Guangdong province had been killed. Ten of thousands of people were evacuated across Guangdong this week, with heavy rains flooding residential neighbourhoods and shops. The government has also allocated 100 million yuan ($21.3 million) toward recovery efforts there, the National Development and Reform Commission said. Last month, heavy rains in northern Beijing killed 44 people, with the capital's rural suburbs hit the hardest. A landslide in a village in Hebei province, which encircles Beijing, killed another eight people. Scientists warn the intensity and frequency of global extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions. China is the world's biggest emitter, but it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060. AFP/ABC
CNA
3 days ago
- Climate
- CNA
10 dead, 33 missing in northwest China floods
BEIJING: Ten people are dead and 33 missing after flash floods and mudslides in northwest China's Gansu province, state media reported on Friday (Aug 8), the latest in a series of lethal weather events to hit the country. Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer, when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat. Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered "utmost effort" in rescuing the missing people on Friday, state broadcaster CCTV said. Due to the "frequent occurrence of extreme weather", Xi ordered all regions to "resolutely overcome complacency" and strengthen efforts to identify risks, the broadcaster added. From Aug 7, "continuous heavy rain" in Gansu triggered flash floods, with the death toll on Friday afternoon standing at 10, CCTV said. Local authorities had issued the highest-level emergency warning for flash floods overnight. A video shared by the Communist Party-backed People's Daily showed more than a dozen rescuers clinging to a rope as they pushed through torrents of mud, while photos posted by Gansu's government showed roads covered in silt and large stones. Heavy rains trapped 4,000 people living in the mountainous Xinglong area and pushed garbage onto roads, CCTV reported earlier on Friday. Three people were missing after a mudslide in Maliantan village, it said. Footage shared by Chinese fire authorities on Weibo showed rescuers in Maliantan guiding people through rushing grey water. Beijing's top economic planner said it was allocating 100 million yuan (US$14 million) towards disaster relief in Gansu. Local weather authorities at midday on Friday predicted more rain in some areas, including near the Yellow River - China's second-biggest waterway. SOUTHERN LANDSLIDE The country's south has also experienced torrential downpours this week. CCTV reported on Friday that all seven people missing after a landslide in Guangdong province had been killed. Ten of thousands of people were evacuated across Guangdong this week, with heavy rains flooding residential neighbourhoods and shops. The government has also allocated 100 million yuan toward recovery efforts there, the National Development and Reform Commission said. Last month, heavy rains in northern Beijing killed 44 people, with the capital's rural suburbs hit the hardest. A landslide in a village in Hebei province, which encircles Beijing, killed another eight people. Scientists warn that the intensity and frequency of global extreme weather events will increase as the planet continues to heat up because of fossil fuel emissions.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Xi Jinping is behaving like Hitler, says Taiwan's deputy foreign minister
At his office in Taipei, Wu Chih-chung pulls out a small stack of papers titled Xi Jinping 's Gradual Move Toward Personal Dictatorship. On each sheet are copies of the front page of the People's Daily, China's largest state-run newspaper, spanning from 1997 to 2022 – each capturing a different era in Chinese leadership. As Mr Wu, Taiwan's deputy foreign minister, goes through the pages, there is a noticeable shift when Mr Xi comes on the scene in 2012. While his predecessors opted for small, 'modest' portraits, says Mr Wu, the image of Mr Xi takes up almost the entire front page. 'You see the rise of Hitler, of someone who tries to be the only one who rules China,' said Mr Wu. 'It's the rise of a dictatorship. It's exactly what happened at the beginning of the 20th century with Hitler and Mussolini,' he added. The People's Daily clippings were taken from past coverage of China's National Congress, the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) most important leadership meeting held every five years. The front cover from 1997 includes a small photograph of former president and general secretary Jiang Zemin along with seven other members of the CCP's politburo. It's a similar story in 2002 and 2007 with leader Hu Jintao. It's a similar story in 2002 and 2007 with Hu Jintao, another former president. 'At this time, China was ruled by this kind of collective rule. It was a committee that would rule China with one chief,' said Mr Wu. However, now, 'you can no more recognise the other rulers of China', only Mr Xi, he said. Since 2012, when Mr Xi became president, as well as general secretary of the CCP and chairman of the Central Military Commission, he has taken steps to consolidate his power, expanding the scope of his control well beyond his predecessors. Mr Xi launched a widespread anti-corruption campaign, targeting those at all levels of the politburo and military, in what many believe has been an effort to weaken his rivals and reinforce his grip on power. He also initiated reforms within China's military, the People's Liberation Army, to centralise its command and turn it into one of the largest and strongest in the world. These efforts have been undertaken with a key objective in mind – to 'reunify the motherland' by bringing Taiwan under Beijing's control – and to use force if necessary. Fear of provocation Over the last several years, China has increasingly applied pressure on Taiwan through 'grey zone' incursions – measures that fall short of full blown warfare but seek to coerce the country ahead of a possible attack. These tactics include cyber attacks, intrusions into Taiwan's waters and air space as well as misinformation campaigns, which Mr Wu says have been particularly troubling. 'The real worry in my heart is not military aggression from China. It's the division within Taiwan because China has become very sophisticated in dividing Taiwanese society,' he said. Experts previously told The Telegraph that if China were to attack Taiwan, it's likely it would first seek to erode trust in the government through propaganda or misinformation in order to turn more support towards Beijing. Prior to his appointment as deputy foreign minister, Mr Wu worked for many years as a political science professor in Taipei before serving as Taiwan's ambassador to France from 2018 to 2024. He noted that China's constant threats against Taiwan and its defence capabilities have been a major obstacle in Taipei's ability to establish formal relations with other countries. Taiwan, with a population of more than 23 million people, only has official diplomatic ties with 12 countries, mostly small nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The deputy foreign minister said that while it's 'very frustrating' that Taiwan cannot have formal relations with more countries, the reality is 'if they recognise Taiwan, China may use force against Taiwan'. 'Of course, we are very unhappy about our international status, but we need to be pragmatic. We cannot provoke China,' said Mr Wu. It's a similar story when it comes to defence commitments. Many countries including the US and the UK subscribe to the principle of 'strategic ambiguity' where they refrain from affirming support for Taipei if China invaded. 'It's better if we can have a guarantee but if we cannot it's because a formal assurance to Taiwan would provoke China too much,' said Mr Wu. With the US, Taiwan's 'most important partner', said Mr Wu, 'the problem is that no one knows what Donald Trump is thinking about'. He added: 'The problem is that no one knows what Donald Trump is thinking about... we are working very hard to build this common interest between US and Taiwan and if this interest is big enough, then the support will come to Taiwan naturally.' Behind the scenes Although Taiwan is restricted in its ability to forge formal relations, both diplomatic and defence, this has not prevented the country from establishing strong informal relations. The existing framework still allows for countries such as the UK and the US to 'work with Taiwanese officials unofficially' and it 'depends on us to define unofficially', said Mr Wu. In addition to its 12 diplomatic missions, Taiwan has 97 representative offices around the world, many of which serve as de facto embassies in the absence of formal ties. Mr Wu said that he has noticed a shift over the six years he served as ambassador in France with more actors looking to engage with Taiwan. 'When I arrived in France in 2018... people would ask me where I came from and when I said Taiwan, you could feel the air immediately freeze,' said Mr Wu. However, when he left France in 2024, the mood had changed. This, he said, was due to Taiwan's handling of the pandemic and a greater awareness of the country's role as the leading producer of semiconductors. It was also a result of increasing pressure from China. 'The contribution of Taiwan, the knowhow of Taiwan, the military aggression [from China] is making Taiwan more famous and attracting more attention... people began to learn that Taiwan is so important,' he said. 'Not today' This greater engagement has led to a rise in Taiwan's exports, which grew by a record 9.9 per cent in 2024, as well as an increase in defence cooperation. The US, Taiwan's primary weapons' source, signalled that it will be increasing its arms sales to the island in the coming years as part of an effort to deter China, with new deals signed earlier this year for more advanced missile and drone technology. Taiwan's president Lai Ching-te pledged this week to boost next year's defence budget to more than 3 per cent of GDP, but Mr Trump has previously said it should be closer to 10 per cent to deter China. Mr Wu said the goal is to 'demonstrate that we have the strong will to defend ourselves'. 'If we reach 3 per cent of our GDP, it will occupy more than 20 per cent of our annual government budget – much higher than any European country and America,' said Mr Wu. He added that higher defence spending is 'in the interest of the US' because we will 'only buy more military equipment from the US'. Taiwan increased its defence budget target to 3 per cent of GDP – £14bn – but Mr Trump said it should be closer to 10 per cent to deter China. Increasing our defence budget is good and is in the interest of the US because we can 'only buy more military equipment from the US', said Mr Wu. Many Western countries have also stepped up their military presence in the Indo-Pacific. The US has increased its involvement in military drills in the region, expanding the size and scope of its exercises with partners like Japan, the Philippines and Australia. For its part, the UK deployed its largest carrier strike group, the HMS Prince of Wales, to the region in April as part of a months-long demonstration of its capabilities in the Indo-Pacific. Mr Wu also said that a new security agreement between Taiwan and Canada would be signed 'very soon' for greater collaboration between the two country's coast guards. While all technically carried out 'informally', this growing international cooperation is a critical component of what Mr Wu and others call the 'not today policy' – an effort to deter China, and its leadership, indefinitely. 'Xi Jinping wants to be the greatest emperor of China so every morning after he wakes up, when he's shaving, he says, 'OK, I really want to conquer Taiwan, it's my dream, but today is not a good day',' said the deputy foreign minister. 'We cannot let Xi Jinping make his dreams come true. Then that would be a success for the whole of humanity.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Record-breaking bridges: How Italy and China are pushing engineering limits
The future of transportation took shape on two continents this week as Italy and China announced bridges that would redefine what's possible in modern engineering. Italy greenlit a $15.5 billion project to build what would become the world's longest suspension bridge, infrastructure company WeBuild said on Wednesday. Over the weekend, the Chinese state-run People's Daily reported the near-completion of what will be the world's tallest bridge. The Italian project, connecting Sicily to mainland Italy across the Strait of Messina, would stretch nearly 2.3 miles, with its suspended span reaching nearly 2.1 miles. This would surpass the current record holder, Turkey's Canakkale Bridge, by more than half a mile. "Today, Italy has shown once again how it can come together around a mega project that will be transformative for the whole country," Pietro Salini, chief executive of WeBuild, said in a press release. Meanwhile, in China's southwestern Guizhou Province, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge reached a milestone with the installation of its final steel girder. According to Chinese state television, the bridge will stand at 2,051 feet from deck to river -- roughly twice the height of the Eiffel Tower. Italy's bridge, designed to carry 6,000 cars per hour and 200 trains daily, focuses on connecting a major island to the mainland. China's Huajiang bridge, while completing a crucial expressway link, incorporates ambitious tourist attractions, including what will be the world's highest bungee jump. Both projects face unique challenges, according to the Associated Press. Italy's bridge must contend with seismic risks in the Messina fault region, while China's bridge tackles the extreme engineering demands of spanning one of the world's deepest canyons, the newsgathering service noted. The competition reflects a broader trend in global infrastructure development. While Italy aims to strengthen its connection to Sicily and bolster NATO's capabilities, China has been systematically building the world's highest bridges. China's Guizhou Province alone has more high bridges than all other countries combined, according to The Italian Transport Ministry announced construction on the Messina bridge is expected to begin next year. According to People's Daily China, the Huajiang bridge is now over 98% complete, and is set to open by the end of September in southwest China's Guizhou Province.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia Faces China Trust Test Over Security Concerns
Nvidia (NVDA, Financials) is facing renewed pressure in China after state-run newspaper People's Daily said the chipmaker must deliver convincing security proofs to address concerns about potential risks in its products. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with NVDA. The commentary, titled Nvidia, how can I trust you? and posted on the outlet's social media account Friday, said foreign companies must treat security as a basic prerequisite under Chinese law. The warning came a day after the Cyberspace Administration of China said it was concerned about possible backdoor vulnerabilities in Nvidia's H20 artificial intelligence chip. The regulator said it had called the company to a meeting to determine whether the chip posed any risk to Chinese user data and privacy. A backdoor is a hidden way to bypass normal authentication or security controls. The concerns emerged weeks after the U.S. reversed an export ban on some Nvidia AI chips, a move that had been expected to support the company's China sales. In a statement to Reuters, Nvidia said cybersecurity is critically important and denied that its chips contain backdoors that could allow remote access or control. The regulator also voiced concern over a U.S. proposal that advanced chips sold abroad be equipped with tracking and positioning functions. Investors will be watching whether Beijing's scrutiny affects Nvidia's ability to sell high-end AI chips in one of its key markets. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
