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China Vows Retaliation after US Blacklists Companies

Flags of US and China are displayed at American International Chamber of Commerce (AICC)'s booth during China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China, May 28, 2019. (Reuters)
Flags of US and China are displayed at American International Chamber of Commerce (AICC)'s booth during China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China, May 28, 2019. (Reuters)
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China Vows Retaliation after US Blacklists Companies

Flags of US and China are displayed at American International Chamber of Commerce (AICC)'s booth during China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China, May 28, 2019. (Reuters)
Flags of US and China are displayed at American International Chamber of Commerce (AICC)'s booth during China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, China, May 28, 2019. (Reuters)

China on Sunday said it will take “necessary measures” to respond to the US blacklisting of Chinese companies over their alleged role in abuses of Uyghur people and other Muslim ethnic minorities.

The Commerce Ministry said the US move constituted an “unreasonable suppression of Chinese enterprises and a serious breach of international economic and trade rules,” reported the Associated Press.

China will “take necessary measures to firmly safeguard Chinese companies’ legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry's statement said.

No details were given, but China has denied allegations of arbitrary detention and forced labor in the far western region of Xinjiang and increasingly responded to sanctions against companies and officials with its own bans on visas and financial links.

The US Commerce Department said in a statement Friday that the electronics and technology firms and other businesses helped enable “Beijing’s campaign of repression, mass detention and high-technology surveillance” against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

The penalties prohibit Americans from selling equipment or other goods to the firms. The United States has stepped up financial and trade penalties over China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, along with its crackdown on democracy in the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong.

The Chinese government since 2017 has detained a million or more people in Xinjiang. Critics accuse China of operating forced labor camps and carrying out torture and coerced sterilization as it allegedly seeks to assimilate Muslim ethnic minority groups.

The US Commerce Department said 14 companies were added to its Entity List over their dealings in Xinjiang, and another five for aiding China's armed forces.

“The Department of Commerce remains firmly committed to taking strong, decisive action to target entities that are enabling human rights abuses in Xinjiang or that use US technology to fuel China’s destabilizing military modernization efforts," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a statement posted on the department's website.

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Typhoon Yagi Weakens after Killing Dozens in Vietnam, China, Philippines

This picture shows swept motorbikes with the debris of destroyed waiting lounges on the shore after Super Typhoon Yagi hit Ha Long bay, in Quang Ninh province, on September 8, 2024. (AFP)
This picture shows swept motorbikes with the debris of destroyed waiting lounges on the shore after Super Typhoon Yagi hit Ha Long bay, in Quang Ninh province, on September 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Typhoon Yagi Weakens after Killing Dozens in Vietnam, China, Philippines

This picture shows swept motorbikes with the debris of destroyed waiting lounges on the shore after Super Typhoon Yagi hit Ha Long bay, in Quang Ninh province, on September 8, 2024. (AFP)
This picture shows swept motorbikes with the debris of destroyed waiting lounges on the shore after Super Typhoon Yagi hit Ha Long bay, in Quang Ninh province, on September 8, 2024. (AFP)

Typhoon Yagi, Asia's most powerful storm this year, was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday, after wreaking havoc in northern Vietnam, China's Hainan and the Philippines, claiming dozens of lives, according to preliminary reports.

Vietnam's meteorological agency issued the downgrade on Sunday but cautioned about the ongoing risk of flooding and landslides as the storm, the strongest to hit the country in decades, moves westwards.

On Saturday, Yagi disrupted power supplies and telecommunications in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, causing extensive flooding, felling thousands of trees and damaging homes.

The government said the storm has led to at least three deaths in Hanoi, a city of 8.5 million, with these figures being preliminary. Fourteen people have died in Vietnam so far, according to reports, including four from a landslide in the province of Hoa Binh, about 100 km (62 miles) south of Hanoi.

A 53-year-old motorcyclist was killed after a tree fell on him in the northern Hai Duong province, state media reported. At least one body was recovered from the sea near the coastal city of Halong, where a dozen people were missing at sea, with rescue operations expected to start on Sunday when conditions allow.

Yagi has claimed the lives of four people on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, according to the latest update from local authorities. The civil defense office in the Philippines, the first country Yagi hit after forming last week, raised the death toll there on Sunday to 20 from 16 and said 22 people remained missing.

RISK OF FLASH FLOODS

After it made landfall in Vietnam on Saturday afternoon, Yagi triggered waves as high as 4 meters (13 feet) in coastal provinces, leading to extended power and telecommunication outages that have complicated damage assessment, the government said.

The meteorological agency warned of continued "risk of flash floods near small rivers and streams, and landslides on steep slopes in many places in the northern mountainous areas" and the coastal province of Thanh Hoa.

Relative calm returned on Sunday morning to Hanoi, where authorities rushed to clean up streets from toppled trees scattered across the city center and other neighborhoods.

"The storm has devastated the city. Trees fell down on top of people's houses, cars and people on the street," said 57-year-old Hanoi resident Hoang Ngoc Nhien.

Hanoi's Noi Bai international airport, the busiest in northern Vietnam, reopened on Sunday after closing on Saturday morning.

In Hainan, preliminary estimates suggested significant economic losses and widespread power outages, according to emergency response authorities cited by state-run Hainan Daily.