Heavy to torrential rainstorms started to pound north China, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Inner Mongolia on Sunday, with some areas recording more than 100 millimeters of precipitation.
Most parts of Shanxi Province have experienced heavy downpour. A total of 1,858 of 1,978 rainfall observation stations across the province, registered rainfall, with the maximum precipitation reaching 140 millimeters. At 21:00 on Sunday, the province issued a yellow alert for rainstorms.
Beijing has also seen intense rainfall. From 17:00 on Sunday to 10:00 on Monday, the average precipitation in the Chinese capital amounted to 59.8 millimeters. During the same period, specific areas within Chaoyang, Haidian, Tongzhou, Shunyi, and Mentougou districts even recorded over 100 millimeters of rain.
"This round of precipitation in the northern region has a relatively widespread impact, spanning from the eastern part of northwest China to north China plain and the Yellow River-Huaihe River basin. Another characteristic is the swift movement of this weather system, with most areas being affected for approximately a day. The third feature is the substantial rainfall accumulation in some areas, along with short-term intense rainfall," said Chen Tao, chief forecaster of the National Meteorological Center.
Affected by the heavy downpours since early Monday morning, Tianjin upgraded a blue alert for rainstorms to a yellow alert.
Two relevant bureaus have activated Level-IV emergency responses aimed at flooding control in the Haihe River, according to the Haihe River Water Conservancy Commission under the Ministry of Water Resources.
China has a four-tier emergency response system for flood control, with Level I being the most urgent response.
Heavy rainfall batters northern China
The 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum opened in Beijing on Friday morning with hotspots around the world and security cooperation taking the center stage.
The opening ceremony was attended by more than 600 official representatives from over 100 countries and international organizations, including nearly 300 heads of official delegations and officials from various countries. The forum is held with the theme of "Promoting Peace for a shared future".
China's Defense Minister Dong Jun attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. He first read out a congratulatory letter from President Xi Jinping to the forum. Then, he mentioned in his speech the current hot issues including the Ukrainian crisis and the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict.
Dong said "there is no winner in a war and a conflict, and there is no way out if we just confront each other." He also stressed that promoting peace talks is the only way out, and the fundamental way out.
Two plenary sessions were held after the opening ceremony. At the first session, participants exchanged views on "security cooperation and prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region", and official representatives from Vietnam, Singapore, Pakistan, Fiji, Russia and Malaysia spoke at the meeting.
The theme of the second plenary session was "multipolarization and the direction of international order", and defense ministers or military generals from six countries including Cambodia, Tanzania, Cameroon and Iran delivered speeches.
The topics all focus on security hotspots. Participants include not only developing and developed countries, but also representatives, experts and scholars from the closely-watched countries such as the United States, Russia, and Ukraine.
In interviews, many participants said that the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is committed to promoting dialog, exchanges and cooperation among defense agencies, militaries and international organizations of various countries, and is playing an active role in promoting regional security and stability and maintaining world peace and development.
The ongoing Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which runs until Saturday, will also hold eight parallel group sessions, focusing on themes such as the correct way for China and the United States to get along, European security trends and Middle East peace vision. This year, a new session on outer space security has been set up for participants to jointly discuss issues on outer space security governance.
Initiated in 2006, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is a high-level security and defense forum in the Asia-Pacific with significant international influence.
11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum opens with focus on hotspots, security cooperation
