Death Toll in Recent Beijing Flooding Rises to 33, with 18 Still Missing 

Residents wash their suitcase and belongings on a damaged bank of a canal clogged with flood debris in the aftermath of flood waters from an overflowing river in the Mentougou district on the outskirts of Beijing on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. (AP)
Residents wash their suitcase and belongings on a damaged bank of a canal clogged with flood debris in the aftermath of flood waters from an overflowing river in the Mentougou district on the outskirts of Beijing on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. (AP)
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Death Toll in Recent Beijing Flooding Rises to 33, with 18 Still Missing 

Residents wash their suitcase and belongings on a damaged bank of a canal clogged with flood debris in the aftermath of flood waters from an overflowing river in the Mentougou district on the outskirts of Beijing on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. (AP)
Residents wash their suitcase and belongings on a damaged bank of a canal clogged with flood debris in the aftermath of flood waters from an overflowing river in the Mentougou district on the outskirts of Beijing on Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. (AP)

The death toll in recent flooding in China's capital rose to 33, including five rescuers, and another 18 people remain missing, officials said Wednesday, as much of the country's north remains threatened by unusually heavy rainfall.

Days of heavy rain hit areas in the city’s mountainous western outskirts especially hard, causing the collapse of 59,000 homes, damage to almost 150,000 others and flooding of more than 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of cropland, according to the city government.

Scores of roads were damaged, along with more than 100 bridges, Xia Linmao, a Beijing vice mayor, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The casualty and damage numbers were current as of Tuesday, Xia said, adding that rescue efforts remained underway. Given the level of damage, it could take up to three years to restore full functions, Xia said.

Other parts of China have also seen heavy flooding, partly from the impact of Typhoon Doksuri over the weekend, leaving dozens dead and missing. Hebei province just outside Beijing has seen some of the region’s worst flooding. Floodwaters in Zhuozhou, southwest of Beijing, started to recede Saturday, allowing some of the 125,000 evacuated residents to return to their homes.

Meanwhile, other areas are suffering from scorching summer heat and drought, threatening residents' heath and the autumn harvest. Heavy rains have battered northern China since late July, disrupting the lives of millions.

Six people died and four went missing in the city of Shulan in the northeastern province of Jilin, which experienced five straight days of rainfall, turning streets into rivers and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands. Heilongjiang province to the north has also seen rivers overflow their banks.

China’s deadliest and most destructive floods in recent history were in 1998, when 4,150 people died, most of them along the Yangtze River.

In 2021, more than 300 people died in the central province of Henan. Record rainfall inundated the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on July 20 that year, turning streets into rushing rivers and flooding at least part of a subway line.



Taiwan’s President Departs for Pacific Visit with a 2-Day Stop in the US

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te waves to the media as he departs for South Pacific at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP)
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te waves to the media as he departs for South Pacific at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP)
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Taiwan’s President Departs for Pacific Visit with a 2-Day Stop in the US

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te waves to the media as he departs for South Pacific at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP)
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te waves to the media as he departs for South Pacific at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP)

Taiwan's president departed Saturday for a trip to the South Pacific that will include a two-day transit in the US, his first since assuming office.

The planned stopovers in Hawaii and the territory of Guam have already drawn fierce criticism from Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and objects to official exchanges between it and the US, the island's biggest backer and military provider.

Lai Ching-te left on a weeklong trip to visit the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau — three diplomatic allies of the self-governed island in the Pacific.

“I want to use the values of democracy, peace, and prosperity to continue to expand our cooperation with our allies, to deepen our partnership and let the world see Taiwan not just as a model of democracy, but a vital power in promoting the world's peace and stability, and prosperous development,” he said at Taoyuan International Airport ahead of his departure.

Though Taiwan retains strong contacts with dozens of other nations, it has only 12 formal diplomatic allies. The self-ruled democracy has recently been facing increasing pressure from China.

It is unclear whether Lai will meet with any members of the incoming US administration during his transit.

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg in July that Taiwan should pay for its defense. The island has purchased billions of dollars of defense weaponry from the US.

Trump evaded answering whether he would defend the island from Chinese military action. On Friday, the US State Department said it approved the sale of $385 million in spare parts and equipment for the fleet of F-16s, as well as support for tactical communication system to Taiwan.

While the US is obligated to help the island defend itself under the Taiwan Relations Act, it has maintained a position of strategic ambiguity over whether it would ever get involved if Taiwan were to be invaded by China.

A second Trump administration is expected to test US-China relations even more than the Republican’s first term, when the US imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion in Chinese products. Taiwan is one of the main sources of tension in the bilateral relationship.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday if the US wanted to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait, it is important for it to handle the Taiwan issue “with utmost caution, clearly opposing Taiwan independence and supporting China’s peaceful reunification.”

She also said China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and Taiwan, including visits by Taiwan’s leaders to the US for any reason.

When former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen went to the US last year as part of a transit to Latin America, it drew vocal opposition from China. Tsai met with the former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the time.

The Chinese military also launched drills around Taiwan last year as a “stern warning” over what it called collusion between “separatists and foreign forces” days after Lai, then Taiwan’s vice president, stopped over in the US

China also strongly objects to leading American politicians visiting the island as it views any official contact with foreign governments and Taiwan as an infringement on its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan. Washington switched its formal recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.