During the past three decades, China-ASEAN partnership has witnessed sound and steady growth. Despite global geopolitical headwinds, the two sides have safeguarded regional stability and tranquility, and always supported each other's economic growth by establishing the sustained solid path of win-win cooperation.

ASEAN member states have a combined population of 670 million and a gross GDP of $3.7 trillion. As a dynamic economic bloc, its annual economic growth rate is now higher than that of the US, Japan and the EU. As a result, tens of millions of people in ASEAN are becoming increasingly better-off each day.

As to the "China threat" theory that the US and its allies have been spreading, the strong relationship ASEAN and China have built over the past many years shows that the ASEAN members are always against Washington politicians' "divisive" strategy.

China and ASEAN countries have pulled together with solidarity in this trying time in the world, and the China-ASEAN relationship shows a sound momentum of all-round development. China's engagement with ASEAN is deep and varied, and it is most prominent on the economic front. China's organic economic linkages with ASEAN economies have resulted in China's economic performance having a strong impact on ASEAN's economic prospects. 

Both sides have become each other's largest trading partner, with trade volume in 2022 almost topping $1 trillion, up 11.2 percent year-on-year and more than double the volume a decade ago. China is also one of the largest sources of foreign direct investment in ASEAN.

The success of ASEAN lies in its establishment of a multi-tiered and effectively-managed architecture of regional cooperation with its dialogue partners, among which ASEAN-China relations have long been one of the most vibrant and productive ties. Two decades ago, China acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, making it the first among major countries to join the treaty. Two decades later, it is more than gratifying to see that ASEAN and China are trying their best to build on a comprehensive strategic partnership which is well poised to benefit us all.

Recently, some Western media outlets are pouring cold water on "ASEAN centrality" is managing regional affairs, spinning on the "declining impact of the ASEAN bloc" which is untrue and ill-intended. On the contrary, China has always supported the central and indispensable role of ASEAN to lead the discussion of all regional issues and help resolve all regional disputes and concerns. 

As a matter of fact, due to its centrality in the Asia-Pacific economy, ASEAN is carving its space on the global stage too. For instance, in November 2020, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand joined the 10 ASEAN member nations to form the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade zone to date. The RCEP covers one-third of the world's population and accounts for 30 percent of global GDP. Thanks to the RCEP, about 65 percent of the goods traded among the 15 members are tariff-free, and in about 20 years 90 percent of them will carry zero tariffs. This has facilitated the unhindered flow of raw materials and finished goods across the whole region.

The Belt and Road Initiative has made many remarkable achievements. First, Belt and Road projects have facilitated economic growth and social development in many countries. Railways, roads and ports have improved transportation, and form the backbone of growth, for they connect cities with towns and rural areas, even remote villages, expediting the movement of products, including agricultural produce, and thus enlarge markets, reduce unemployment and promote education, especially in the countryside.

Second, Belt and Road projects have helped expand many countries' foreign trade thanks to the construction and improvement of ports, airports and highways. This is most evident in countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia. Such projects have also helped ASEAN to become China's largest trading partner.

During the last ASEAN Summit and Asia-Pacific regional leaders' meetings held in Indonesia, China and ASEAN signed a series of documents that will consolidate economic partnership and cooperation between the two giant economies, with the centerpiece being the upgrading of the ASEAN-China free trade agreement to version 3.0, covering new cooperation areas including digital economy, green economy and stronger supply chain. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the meeting chair, emphasized the need to realize "concrete cooperation that is mutually beneficial" to both Southeast Asia and China. 

In a sense, the central role of ASEAN in managing regional matters and addressing common concerns is not diminished or marginalized, as claimed by the Western media. And, China will always act as a strong force to back up ASEAN, politically and economically.

China's Politburo member and Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined six diplomatic tasks for the country in 2023. Among them, Wang stressed that China "will stay committed to the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, and the policy of forging friendship and partnership in our neighborhood, and deepen friendship, mutual trust and convergence of interests with our neighbors."

With regard to geographical proximity and economic interdependence, ASEAN is the top priority in China's neighborhood diplomacy. As long as the world's geopolitical unilateralism and trade protectionism continue, global demand is likely to remain subdued which will weigh heavily on global economic recovery.

Meanwhile, the world is currently encountering changes unseen in a century, and once again stands at a historical crossroads. On the one hand, the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is gaining momentum, and, the aspiration for win-win cooperation among the economies has grown even stronger.

Despite the complexities and volatilities in the global stage, ASEAN has successfully managed to maintain peace and stability in the region, sustain the good momentum of growth, and make remarkable economic and social achievements. Now ASEAN stands out as one of the most dynamic regions in the world, leading the post-pandemic recovery of the global economy. The GDP growth rate of ASEAN in 2022 was an impressive 5.2 percent, one of the highest among all major economies and economic groupings.

The success of ASEAN lies in its right choice of progress over regression, cooperation over confrontation, and openness over isolation. The success of ASEAN also lies in its adherence to solidarity and independence, in its cherishing of peace and development, in its respect for cultures and traditions of various members, and in its drawing on wisdom of Asian civilizations.

By the end of July this year, cumulative two-way investment had surpassed $380 billion, with China setting up more than 6,500 enterprises with direct investment in ASEAN member states. Against the backdrop of a bleak global economic rebound, Asia, especially East and Southeast Asia have become bright spots.

Moreover, the sharp, geopolitically-induced downturn in semiconductors may be bottoming out. And Huawei's impressive 5G Mate 60 Pro suggests China is moving toward self-sufficiency in high-tech much faster than expected.

As Chinese Premier Li Qiang said recently in Indonesia --"As long as we both keep to the right path, no matter what storm may come, China-ASEAN cooperation will be as firm as ever and press ahead against all odds." 

Cities across China are issuing vouchers to further lift consumption as the 8-day Golden Week holidays are right around the corner. 

Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province started to issue batches of consumption vouchers worth 130 million yuan ($18.2 million) on Wednesday. The issuance is expected to end in December. 

Residents in Guangzhou can obtain the vouchers at locations such as shopping malls and super markets, as well as online platforms.

Sichuan in Southwest China granted a second round of consumption vouchers that cover retail, dining, home appliances and sports starting from Tuesday through online platforms. They followed a first batch of consumption vouchers valued at more than 450 million yuan that were released at the end of August. 

Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, also launched consumption packages worth more than 200 million yuan, covering hotels, catering and travel agencies. 

The booming dispatch of vouchers in different cities came after higher-than-expected retail sales, a main gauge of consumption, in August. Experts said the issuance of consumer vouchers can help improve residents' willingness to spend and is conducive to accelerating economic recovery.

The contribution of final consumption expenditures to economic growth reached 77.2 percent in the first half of the year, significantly higher than the contribution rate for the whole of 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Thanks to a bustling summer travel peak and consumption-boosting measures, retail sales of consumer goods in August recorded a year-on-year growth of 4.6 percent to reach 3.79 trillion yuan, 2.1 percentage points higher than the growth rate of July, NBS said on September 15, further highlighting China's steady economic recovery.  

The rebound in domestic consumption has played a vital role in driving economic development, the bureau said, highlighting the significant recovery seen in service consumption.

To boost consumption, the Ministry of the Commerce has declared 2023 as a "Boost Consumption Year," in which a series of measures will be released to lift consumption for the whole year.

China has released a number of measures to revive domestic tourism and further unleash consumption potential on the first day of the Golden Week holidays on Friday, on which the world’s second-largest economy has witnessed record railway trips, traffic and long queues outside tourist spots.

The series of rules covers a wider range of areas including enhancing high-quality tourism products and services, expanding marine tourism products, optimizing tourism infrastructure investment, increasing international flights, offering convenience for inbound tourism and expanding financing channels for tourist enterprises, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency, citing a document from the State Council.

The stimulus measures aim to further meet the people’s aspirations for a better life, and leverage the significant role of the tourism industry in advancing economic and social development, the report said.

Stimulus targeting the tourism industry is being launched at a critical time, when Chinese authorities have been ramping up efforts to shore up confidence and stabilize growth as the world’s second-largest economy has seen signs of recovery over the past months. 

Analysts have expected a surge on consumption during the Golden Week holidays, which falls from Friday to October 6, it’s China’s longest public holiday this year.

Traffic is quite busy. On the first day of the eight-day holidays, the national railway network is experiencing its peak passenger flow, with roughly 20.2 million trips are made on this day. A total of 12,508 passenger trains are scheduled to operate, including 1,841 additional trains added to accommodate the surge in passenger demand on the day.

Specifically, the railway network in the Yangtze River Delta region, one of China’s most economically dynamic areas, is expected to see 3.5 million trips on Friday, an increase of 60 percent compared with the same time in 2019. 

In response to the high passenger volume during this travel peak, the railway authorities said they are making every effort to tap into the transportation potential, maximize capacity, and ensure that the travel needs of the passengers are met to the best extent possible.

In terms of commercial aviation, more than 21 million travelers will take flights in the span of eight days, with the aviation meal production workshop is operating 24 hours a day to ensure a sufficient meal supply during the holiday period, according to a report from ThePaper.cn.
The official start of the eight-day holidays goes hand in hand with the peak of tourism season nationwide. Data from travel agencies showed that during this holiday period, the popularity of long-distance travel products, primarily to destinations like Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, and Yunnan Province, have seen a year-on-year increase of over 300 percent. 

Long-distance group tours have become a rising trend, with no decrease in the popularity of major cities, and lesser-known places are also gaining attention. Furthermore, the entertainment industry has seen  “retaliatory growth” this year, with consumers showing a sustained enthusiasm for attending shows. “Traveling  with performances” has become a new trend for holidaymakers.

The film industry has also rebounded. As of 5:50 pm on Friday, the box office for the 2023 National Day holiday season has exceeded 300 million yuan ($41.11 million), according to data from online ticketing platform Maoyan. 

Alibaba’s Cainiao Smart Logistics has strongly refuted Belgian intelligence service VSSE’s recent accusation of engaging in “possible spying or interference activities” at the company’s European logistics center at Belgium’s Liege Airport.

“We strongly deny the allegations based on prior conjecture. Cainiao is in compliance with all laws and regulations where it operates,” the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Saturday.

Belgian officials are looking into “risks” involving the presence of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba at a cargo airport in the city of Liege, Reuters reported on Friday, citing VSSE.

The security service said it was working to “detect and fight against possible spying and/or interference activities carried out by Chinese entities including Alibaba,” Reuters wrote.

Alibaba signed an agreement with the Belgian government in 2018 to establish an e-commerce trade center operated by Cainiao at Liege Airport. In 2021, Cainiao commenced operations at the Liege Digital Logistics Hub, which was its largest smart logistics hub in Europe.

It is not the first time for certain Belgian officials and media outlets hype such groundless accusations. In May 2021, The Chinese Embassy in Belgium refuted similar accusations against Alibaba, noting that such baseless allegations were a replica of the “China threat theory,” which not only misguided the Belgian public but also cast a negative impact on the image and reputation of Chinese businesses and individuals in Belgium.

The Chinese government always requires Chinese enterprises to strictly abide by local laws and regulations when doing business overseas, and will not require Chinese enterprises to engage in activities that violate local laws and regulations, the embassy said in a statement.

“Currently, Europe’s perception of and sentiment towards China have undergone complex changes due to a combination of internal and external factors. Many regular economic cooperation projects between China and Europe are being scrutinized through the lens of so-called security concerns,” Dong Yifan, a research fellow at the Institute of European Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

Against the backdrop, various security and defense departments, including Belgium’s VSSE, are inclined to take the forefront in promoting such issues to underscore their own influence, Dong said.

“Such moves overstretching the concept of national security will undoubtedly create a negative impact on the political atmosphere and public sentiment between China and Europe, subsequently undermining the willingness and confidence of both parties to engage in cooperation,” Dong said.

Cao Zhongming, China’s ambassador to Belgium told the media in January that China retained its position as Belgium’s third-largest trading partner in 2022, while Belgium stood as China’s seventh-largest trading partner within the EU. The accomplishment is noteworthy given the backdrop of a sluggish global economic recovery.

The successful operation of Alibaba's Cainiao Liege Smart Logistics Hub in Belgium has significantly boosted cross-border e-commerce between China and Europe and helped reinforce Belgium’s position as a logistics hub in Europe, Cao said.

China will build a batch of regional highlands and technological platforms for artificial intelligence (AI), in a bid to deepen enterprise-led integration of industry, research and application, and promote AI-enabled economic and social development, Wang Zhigang, Chinese minister of science and technology, said at a major AI event on Thursday.

Officials and industry practitioners also said at the event that the new generation of AI will become a new engine for the development of the economy and society.

"The application scenarios of AI continue to expand, making the AI-empowered industrial mode change from small manual workshops into the era of large-scale industrialization, which will have a significant and far-reaching impact on economic development, social progress, global governance and many other aspects," Wang said on Thursday, while addressing the opening ceremony of the 7th World Intelligence Congress (WIC), which runs until Sunday in Tianjin Municipality.

The accelerated evolution of brain-like intelligence, quantum intelligence, big data and other technological areas has led to a mass breakthrough in frontier fields, which is expected to achieve major technological changes, Wang noted.

Relying on the advantages of China's super-large market, AI will attract global innovation resources to deeply integrate with China's real economy, and constantly create a new trend of industrial development while becoming a new engine of economic and social development, Wan Gang, president of the China Association for Science and Technology, said at the WIC.

"The new generation of AI should focus on expansion in application markets and industrial ecological cultivation," said Wan.

With the rapid development of AI, China has achieved remarkable economic and social empowerment. By 2022, China ranked first in the world in the number of AI patent applications.

According to official statistics, China has a leading edge in computer vision, natural language processing and voice recognition, and its core industry scale exceeds 500 billion yuan ($71.2 billion), with more than 4,200 representative enterprises, accounting for about 16 percent of the world's total.

China ranked 11th in the Global Innovation Index, according to a report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization. In terms of scientific and technological innovation, including the field of AI, China is not only an important player in international frontier innovation, but also an important contributor to jointly solving global problems.

Under its blueprint of AI development, China has established a total of 18 national pilot zones, including Beijing and Tianjin, for the development of next-generation AI innovation and 32 open innovation platforms, according to official statistics.

While attaching great importance to the development of AI, the Chinese government is fully aware that technologies including AI have two sides, Wang noted.

At the same time, China also sees that the development of AI is still faced with technical challenges, such as the deviation of underlying algorithms, lack of high-quality data, model efficiency to be improved, and social challenges to personal privacy, public safety, education and employment. China urges cooperation with countries around the world to jointly promote the sustainable and healthy development of AI.

"We have actively responded to the risks and challenges that may be brought by AI, and promoted the ethical governance of AI. China [in November 2022] published a position paper on strengthening the ethical governance of AI, demonstrating to the world a clear position on the responsible development of AI," said Wang.

ChatGPT and brain computer interface (BCI) were key issues for discussion at the 2023 WIC. 

On Thursday, a BCI system was launched at the high-tech event, which has set the current world record for the fastest non-invasive BCI system. With a small device on your head, a computer can type out what you think.

The WIC attracted participation of 117 of the world's top 500 companies, 369 of China's top 500 companies, and more than 1,000 well-known unicorn technology companies, universities and institutions, according to the organizers.

The event uses cutting-edge technologies such as AI and metauniverse to comprehensively showcase the latest technologies and products in intelligent industries, smart cities, smart manufacturing and smart living.

These cutting-edge technologies have dazzled many participants.

Andrew Starforth, general manager of the China division of Silverstream Technologies, was one of them.

"All the technologies are in place. And various local companies, not ones that are recognized globally compared to big players, are developing technology that is better than what you can see elsewhere," Starforth told the Global Times on Thursday on the sidelines of the 2023 WIC.

Starforth went to work in China in 1999 and stayed for five years. He moved back in 2018. "The changes in China in the past six years have been phenomenal."

Describing China in 1999 and 2023 as worlds apart, Starforth said that China has advanced quickly.

New progress has been made on an investigation into a cyberattack incident targeting the Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center affiliated to the city's Emergency Management Bureau, after a joint investigation team formed by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) and Chinese cybersecurity company 360 discovered malicious backdoor software that exhibits characteristics of US intelligence agencies, the Global Times learned on Monday. Chinese authorities will publicly disclose a highly secretive global reconnaissance system of the US government, which poses a serious security threat to China's national security and world peace.

On July 26, the Wuhan Earthquake Monitoring Center reported that some front-end station collection points of the earthquake reporting data had been implanted with backdoor programs, attracting widespread attention. The CVERC and the company 360 immediately formed a joint investigation team to go to Wuhan for investigation and evidence collection.

Du Zhenhua, a senior engineer from the CVERC, told the Global Times that the team has found very complex backdoor malware in the victim's network, fitting the characteristics of US intelligence agencies, highly concealed, and aiming to steal earthquake monitoring-related data, with a clear military reconnaissance purpose.
Why target earthquake monitoring system?

Du explained that China is a country seriously affected by earthquake disasters, with multiple occurrences causing severe loss of life and property. "Therefore, China attaches great importance to earthquake monitoring and early warning. In order to improve the monitoring and early warning capability of geological disasters, earthquake monitoring data includes not only basic information like magnitude and epicenter but also rich geographical and geological data such as surface deformation and hydrological monitoring," Du said.

These data also hold high value as military intelligence. Hence, the cyberattack on the earthquake monitoring center by US intelligence agencies was a planned and premeditated cyber military reconnaissance action, the expert noted.

Xiao Xinguang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and also the chief software architect of leading anti-virus company Antiy Labs, further explained to the Global Times that although the location, magnitude, and depth are publicly released information, they are based on the calculations from multiple sensors.

"The comprehensive vibration and sound wave data collected by these sensors, especially infrasound data, have significant intelligence value for judging geological terrain, analyzing weapons system tests, and nuclear tests," Xiao said.

Furthermore, this is just one of the reasons the US targets earthquake monitoring and other systems with cyberattacks. Xiao also analyzed that the current information gathering is only one type of behaviors that have been exposed.

There are still many information theft instances targeting other fields that have not yet come to the surface. By leveraging its global comprehensive reconnaissance ability, along with various means of intrusion, theft, and other comprehensive measures to obtain all kinds of telemetry data, and combining other multi-source auxiliary data, it forms the ability to analyze, judge, attribute, and locate China's economic, social operations, and even military actions.

Causing social panic

Experts believe that cyberattacks on civil infrastructure, including earthquake monitoring systems, can lead to serious consequences.

Du underlined that if the attackers maliciously damaged earthquake monitoring system, it would become ineffective in providing accurate data during an earthquake. This would impact earthquake early warnings and disaster assessment work, leading to more severe loss of life and property.

"Even more dangerous is that if the attackers tamper with the earthquake monitoring data, triggering false alarms, it could lead to social panic and disorder, resulting in casualties among innocent people," Du said.

The remote sensing and telemetry systems and data are national strategic resources that must be given priority protection, Xiao said. "These data can display the basic operation of our country's economy and society from macro to micro levels and provide comprehensive support for integrated decision-making and emergency response. They are the supporting resources for territorial safety and national security."

"US intelligence agencies not only actively collect various signal intelligence but have also long obtained other countries' comprehensive earth system science remote sensing and telemetry data as strategic intelligence through various means. This includes sharing through allied intelligence mechanisms, coercing high-tech companies to provide it, and using academic and scientific research activities," Xiao said.

He also explained that the discovery of the cyberattack on Wuhan earthquake monitoring center was not accidental, indicating that cyberattack intrusion and theft have become the lowest-cost way for the US to obtain other countries' remote sensing and telemetry data.

The US has developed a series of signal intelligence collection, analysis, and processing systems, such as the Echelon project for electromagnetic signal spying, the Main Core project for telecommunications operators, and the PRISM project's super access interface for large IT and internet manufacturers.

"After many years of continuous tracking with relevant departments, we will soon publicly disclose a global reconnaissance system of the US government, which poses serious security threats to China's national security and world peace. We must be highly vigilant and tightly guard against this," Xiao said.

Violating international law

In fact, a plethora of internal documents from the National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) exposed in events such as Prism, Shadow Brokers and WikiLeaks reveal that the US, as a real "hacker empire" and "spying empire," targets "indiscriminately" (including its allies) in its cyber intelligence collection activities. Civil institutions and individuals worldwide are its targets for cyberattacks, fully exposing the US' double standards and hypocrisy on human rights issues.

Du further stated that the US military intelligence agencies' use of their information technology advantage to launch cyberattacks on civilian infrastructure is a criminal act in clear violation of international law, seriously infringing on China's national security and public interest.

"In fact, for a long time, the US' cyberattacks on China's key information infrastructure have been all-encompassing, with government agencies, universities, research institutions, and large corporations all being targeted by its cyberespionage activities. The US is attempting to use these unfair means to comprehensively steal China's political, economic, military, and diplomatic sensitive information, to contain China's development and progress, and to maintain the US' world hegemony," he said.

As a veteran expert in computer virus prevention technology and emergency response, Du suggested that if China's key information infrastructure is attacked with state-backed hackers, relevant units must report the cyberattack to relevant authorities immediately; build cybersecurity capabilities; strengthen supply chain security management, increase autonomous control abilities; conduct regular cybersecurity drills to improve emergency handling and recovery abilities.

Xiao believed that although China's overall cybersecurity ecosystem is still relatively small in market size, overall, it's complete in technology categories without obvious weaknesses. "In continuous confrontation with threats, especially in identifying, analyzing, and exposing advanced persistent cyberattacks, including those from the US, many excellent Chinese cybersecurity companies have demonstrated their abilities, becoming the industry's supporting force in safeguarding national security and defending the security of the cyberspace community."

China does not need to underestimate itself in terms of cybersecurity capabilities, he noted. "We can establish more ambitious goals, become a competent force in the national governance system, create a capability advantage compared to main geopolitical competitors, and not become a significant constraint and risk vulnerability, even when facing comprehensive suppression by hegemonic states or in high-intensity security conflicts.

"We can achieve an overall risk controllable state by strengthening the construction of the public service attributes of cybersecurity , and enhancing the construction of common security capabilities, resilience mechanisms, and cybersecurity infrastructure," Xiao said.

The worst flood that hit the Haihe River Basin in North China since 1963 has exposed  weaknesses in monitoring and forecasting capabilities for floods, said China's Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) on Monday.

From July 28 to August 1, some 22 rivers in the basin experienced above-warning level flooding, and eight rivers reported the largest floods ever recorded, said MWR officials at a news conference. The disaster has caused 61 deaths, and millions of people were impacted. 

At present, the water levels in active flood storage and retention areas within the basin are gradually retreating and residents are gradually returning home, officials said.

Liu Weiping, a vice minister of the MWR, said reservoirs in the region have played a key role. Eighty-four large and medium-sized reservoirs were mobilized to intercept 2.85 billion cubic meters of floodwater, while the comprehensive role of the basin's flood control system was fully utilized to minimize the impact and losses caused by the floods.

These reservoirs have prevented 500,000 hectares of farmland in 24 townships from being flooded, said Liu. More than 4.6 million people would have been evacuated if not for the reservoirs.

Although the flood control system has played an important role in combating this flooding in the Haihe River Basin, which is the major water system with an area of about 320,600 square kilometers in North China,  many loopholes have been exposed, said MWR officials. 

The nation is still relatively weak in terms of monitoring and forecasting floods, said Zhang Xiangwei, an official from the Department of Planning and Programming of the MWR.

Weaknesses include insufficient flood storage capacity in some the rivers, insufficient flood capacity to meet requirements, lagging behind in the construction of stagnant flood storage areas and inadequate flood entry and exit facilities, Zhang said.

These weaknesses are particularly evident in the forecast of small river floods, which needs to be further improved both in meteorological and hydrological terms, Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times on Monday.

Ma noted that the disruption of the network has led to transmission interruptions at some monitoring stations, which had a great impact on accurately predicting the trend of floods.

Given these weaknesses, Zhang said that the MWR will further strengthen the integrated management of the Haihe River Basin in collaboration with relevant departments and local authorities.

Ma called for a reassessment of the risk of meteorological disasters such as torrential rain and flash floods in the context of climate change, as well as corresponding urban planning.

In response to the floods in the Haihe River Basin, the MWR has strengthened technical guidance and provided support for post-disaster reconstruction. A total of 26 working groups and expert teams have been dispatched to provide targeted guidance of flood prevention and risk management efforts.

Moreover, China's Ministry of Finance has allocated 1.15 billion yuan ($157.35 million) to support the timely repair of water conservancy facilities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. 

Additionally, 1.5 billion yuan for compensation in flood storage and detention areas has been allocated to support the affected areas and people in quickly restoring production and their livelihoods, said Liu.

According to media reports, the post-disaster reconstruction in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is being carried out in an orderly manner. Beijing's Mentougou district is accelerating cleaning of the Yongding River to ensure subsequent rainfall flood flow is at safe levels, said Zhang Hewei, an official from the Mentougou district government.

A total of 16 teams from institutes of city planning and design have been sent to the Mentougou district to analyze the occurrence of geological disasters and the situation in terms of risk prevention and control. 

Some 15,000 grassroots officials and agricultural technicians in Hebei have been organized to assist farmers in post-disaster production recovery, as well as 12 robotic vehicles in the city of Zhuozhou have been deployed for underground garage dredging, according to media reports.

Noting that the flood season is still ongoing, with severe and complicated floods and droughts still expected, Liu said the ministry will continue to strengthen all prevention measures.

China’s security ministry lashed out against a new US Intelligence Strategy on Monday by exposing four dangerous, ill-suited and parasitic modes of thinking emerging from the US intelligence community – Cold War mentality of targeting China, zero-sum thinking, hegemonic thinking and confrontational thinking. 

The Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in a statement that the policy orientation set by the US National Intelligence Strategy is aimed at deterring China and is merely a new iteration of the “China threat theory,” also a clear declaration of the US intelligence community to open an era of “targeting China.”  

The new US National Intelligence Strategy, unveiled on August 10, aims to better prepare the US for a range of threats that are no longer limited to traditional nation-state competitors such as China and Russia or terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, VOA reported.

China’s security ministry in the statement advised the US intelligence community to take a sober approach toward the present-day China and the international landscape. Immersing itself in backward and misguided notions will only result in self-inflicted harm and undermine its own interests, the ministry warned. 

The MSS firstly revealed the Cold War mentality behind the US National Intelligence Strategy, saying though it has been over 30 years since the Cold War has been ended , some individuals in the US intelligence community have only adapted to the new multipolar world physically, while their mindset remains stuck in the bipolar confrontation of the Cold War era. 

They have been constantly searching for a “perfect adversary” to showcase their skills, treating China as a “toolbox” to leverage their own value domestically and as a scapegoat for disguising security challenges internationally. 

From establishing the “China Mission Center” to advocating for the reconstruction of intelligence networks in China, from launching “witch-hunt operations” against Chinese scholars to pressuring countries to “decouple” from China, the US intelligence agencies have skillfully employed strategies from the Cold War era, erecting a new “Iron Curtain” to hinder global prosperity and development, the ministry wrote in a statement. 

The ministry pointed out that the zero-sum thinking over “absolute security” is apparent in its National Intelligence Strategy, which lists numerous new security threats but fails to propose effective strategies for deepening international security cooperation. 

Pursuing its own security while neglecting common security of the world countries and viewing competition and cooperation among nations as a simple zero-sum game, this is where the entrenched malady of the “US security concept” persists, the MSS said. 

Even in the 21st century, the US continues to follow the law of the jungle, where only one side can win at the expense of others. This approach only leads countries into a “prisoner’s dilemma” of mutual distrust and ultimately makes the US itself less secure. “America First” has become the root cause of turmoil and suffering in the world, the ministry said. 

As the sole superpower, imposing its own will on the world is an inherent logic of American hegemony. Citing “American values” and referring to the “international security order,” the US only aims to uphold the “US-centered international order,” the ministry pointed out. 

As early as World War II, the Office of Strategic Services (a predecessor to the CIA) proposed implementing propaganda and subversive actions to shape the post-war world order. In 1948, the CIA launched the “Operation Gladio” and interfered in elections in Italy. In 1953, the CIA carried out the “Operation Ajax” to overthrow the Mossadegh government in Iran, the MSS said. 

Starting in 2003, a series of “color revolutions” occurred in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, with the US intelligence department being regarded as important behind-the-scenes actors, it added. 

The ability to shape security in line with global hegemony is a persistent goal that the US has been pursuing, however, its unilateralism and egotism are triggering increasingly strong criticism and opposition from the international community, the security ministry said. 

Placing importance on leveraging allies is the biggest difference that the Biden administration self-proclaims as part of its foreign policy compared to the Trump administration. But the truth is that the so-called “alliances and partnerships” is essentially the act of coercing other countries to take sides and firmly binding them to the US intelligence apparatus. 

The security ministry referenced the Russia-Ukraine conflict, to solidify anti Russia alliance, the US intelligence community has been hyping up over on the European energy supply chain and the Nord Stream pipeline issue remains shrouded in mystery to this day.

While in the Asia-Pacific region, the US has aggressively promoted the “Indo-Pacific strategy” and rallied the “Five Eyes alliance,” “Quad mechanism,” and “trilateral security partnerships” to create intelligence cliques, pressuring countries to join in an anti-China chorus, the ministry stated. 

However, being an intelligence ally of the US not only requires willingly acting as a “pawn” but also accepting the meticulous “special care” of the “big brother’ at all times, the ministry said.

Citing media reports, the ministry pointed out that the US National Security Agency has long monitored the heads of state and government of allied nations, also established technical eavesdropping bases covering neighboring countries in a certain European country, and even demanded the country’s intelligence agency assist the US in monitoring its own government officials. 

Such absurd demands can only come from a “peculiar ally” like the US, the ministry added. 

Radiation from the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant contaminates most Japanese seafood at low levels, researchers estimate February 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For aquatic foods, data on lingering concentrations of cesium is limited in terms of the number of species sampled and the levels that surveys can even detect. To fill in the blanks, a team of researchers in Japan drew from survey measurements from April 2011 to September 2015 and devised a way to predict cesium contamination in different aquatic species across Japan.

The analysis provides mixed news: Overall, cesium contamination is pretty low. But, some species retain higher levels than others. Larger fish near the top of the food web tended to have the highest levels of contamination. The researchers predict that such factors put some wild freshwater species like the whitespotted char (Salvelinus leucomaenis leucomaenis) and the Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) at higher risk for contamination.

Once every 69 years, a nearby star dramatically dims for about three and a half years during the longest known stellar eclipse in our galaxy.

The star, called TYC 2505-672-1, is a red giant, about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Leo Minor. The star is orbited by a dim, hot companion star that appears to be enveloped by a thick cloud of dust roughly one to three times as wide as Earth’s orbit. The cloud, reported in an upcoming Astronomical Journal, blocks much of the red star’s light from reaching Earth for a good long time.

Researchers already knew that TYC 2505-672-1 had drastically faded recently. But astronomer Joseph Rodriguez of Vanderbilt University in Nashville and colleagues scoured data from many telescopes — including a Harvard University photograph archive dating back to 1890 — and found that the starlight dipped and rebounded not only between 2011 and 2015 but also in the 1940s. The previous eclipse record holder was Epsilon Aurigae, a star 2,000 light-years away that dims for about 24 months every 27 years.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on April 27, 2016, to correct distances and the name of the previous eclipse record holder.