Farmers in Wenzhou city of east China's Zhejiang Province are preparing for the approaching Typhoon Gaemi, the third typhoon of the year.
Recently, rows of harvesters have been working to reap early-season rice, while drying efforts are simultaneously underway to ensure the grain can be stored. As of Tuesday afternoon, 65,000 mu (about 4,333 hectares) of early rice in Pingyang County had been harvested
Meanwhile, melon farmers are busy harvesting watermelons, which are vulnerable to severe weather.
"It's been raining these past two days, so we called all the workers to come and harvest the watermelons," said Xia Chengyin, one of the farmers.
As of 20:00 on Wednesday, around 70 mu (approximately 4.7 hectares) of watermelons have been harvested, with 130 mu (approximately 8.7 hectares) still left to be harvested.
Starting from Wednesday, coastal areas in Zhejiang are expected to see gales and rainstorms because of the typhoon. Winds of up to 149.04 km per hour are likely to sweep nearby waters of cities including Wenzhou and Taizhou. Heavy downpours are estimated to batter some parts of Wenzhou, Taizhou, Lishui, Quzhou, as well as other cities.
Farmers in Zhejiang get poised for approaching Typhoon Gaemi
Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit resonated with the common aspiration of more than 2.8 billion Chinese and African people and demonstrated China's firm will of moving forward hand-in-hand with Africa along the path of development, revitalization and modernization, several participants at the event have said.
In his speech on Thursday, Xi proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations, and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
He also announced that the Chinese government will provide 360 billion yuan (about 50.8 billion U.S. dollars) of financial support to Africa over the next three years.
"Everyone was happy to hear those news, so everyone was clapping. So now we are going to a higher level of relations between China and Africa," said Hamidou, a counselor at the Embassy of Comoros in Beijing.
"China understands Africa's urgent desire to advance modernization. We can learn a lot from China's development," said Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso Karamoko Jean Marie Traore.
Xi also suggested 10 partnership actions for modernization that China will take together with Africa in the next three years to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead modernization in the Global South.
"President Xi, through his long vision of the needs of countries and his interest in supporting development, has offered this as a real vehicle to promote exports of Africa to China, which is a huge market," said Alaa Ezz, secretary general of the Union of African Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and Professions (UACCIAP).
"As he told this morning, we have many projects in digitalization, in capacity building, in health centers, support for health, for infrastructure, in the framework of the Belt and [Road]. And we think that we are very satisfied with this partnership. This is a win-win partnership," said Gabriel Mbairobe, Cameroon's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Held in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday, the 2024 FOCAC summit brought together leaders from China and over 50 African countries, who highlighted the common pursuit of China and African countries in realizing modernization.
During the summit, both sides unanimously adopted two important documents -- a declaration on jointly building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era, and an action plan of the FOCAC for the next three years.
Xi's speech at FOCAC summit resonates with people's common aspiration: participants
