Authorities are racing to restore power, water, communications and transport links in Jianchang county, northeast China’s Liaoning province, after days of heavy rains disrupted supplies and forced thousands to evacuate.
Jianchang has borne the brunt of the torrential rains that hit the city of Huludao late Sunday evening. Many rural houses were damaged, more than 40,000 people had to be evacuated to emergency shelters and entire villages were without electricity, water and internet.
Since Tuesday morning, emergency workers from across the province have been busy repairing the county’s infrastructure, clearing muddy roads, relocating evacuees and providing essential goods to those housed in emergency shelters.
“This cable is very important. It is the communication channel between Jianchang and the outside world and ensures that the county stays connected,” said Jiao Hongbo, an employee at China Unicom’s Huludao branch. Other team members worked on Thursday to repair cable connections in the county’s worst-hit town of Niangniangmiao.
Local authorities said electricity, water, road transport and other public services in the worst-affected areas were expected to resume in the coming days.
The National Development and Reform Commission on Thursday allocated 200 million yuan (about $28 million) in emergency funds to support infrastructure reconstruction in Liaoning and neighboring Jilin province.
Authorities are working hard to repair infrastructure in rain-stricken Huludao
Bilateral trade between China and Vietnam has exceeded the $200 billion mark for three consecutive years, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Thursday.
The two countries have experienced rapid growth in trade in recent years, making China Vietnam’s largest trading partner, He Yadong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters at a press conference.
“China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner. Bilateral trade has exceeded 200 billion U.S. dollars for three consecutive years. From January to July this year, China-Vietnam trade reached 145.07 billion U.S. dollars, up 20.9 percent year-on-year. China is also the largest export market for Vietnamese agricultural products. Vietnam’s durian and dragon fruit are popular with Chinese consumers. China’s agricultural imports from Vietnam account for about one-fifth of total agricultural imports from ASEAN countries,” He said.
Vietnam is an important destination for Chinese investments, the spokesman said.
“In terms of investment and cooperation, Vietnam is an important destination for China’s outbound investment. Direct investment by Chinese enterprises reached 1.84 billion U.S. dollars from January to July this year, continuing to show rapid growth,” He said.
The spokesman also said that a subway line in Hanoi, Line 2, built by a Chinese company, provides convenience to local residents.
At the same time, solar and wind power projects with Chinese participation are becoming models for cooperation between both sides in the field of the green economy.
In the future, the ministry will encourage companies from China and Vietnam to use platforms such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the Canton Fair and the China-ASEAN Expo to expand trade in high-quality agricultural and industrial products, the spokesman said.
The ministry will also promote mutually beneficial cooperation in the areas of digital economy and green development, and accelerate negotiations on version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area to share the dividends of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), thereby making greater contributions to the region’s development and prosperity.
Trade between China and Vietnam exceeds USD 200 billion for three consecutive years
