Zhejiang Province in east China carried out a comprehensive emergency response drill on Friday to strengthen its capabilities in responding to natural disasters including typhoon and flood.
The drill, titled "Emergency Mission 2024," was staged at different venues across Zhejiang Province, with Jinhua acting as the main venue and Hangzhou, Ningbo as auxiliary sites.
Organized jointly by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, the Ministry of Emergency Management, and the Zhejiang Provincial Government, the exercise was participated in by over 8,000 personnel.
The drill simulated the landfall of a super typhoon named "Poseidon," which swept across the entire region, triggering a series of disasters.
To tackle the ensuing emergency, more than 2,000 firefighting and emergency rescue personnel were swiftly mobilized from nearby Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi to Zhejiang.
Additionally, the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police forces, alongside other social emergency response units, were deployed to manage flood control and undertake rescue operations effectively.
The exercise featured 35 specific training scenarios, focusing on typhoon preparedness, river flooding, urban waterlogging, and flash floods. Notably, firefighting teams deployed amphibious hovercraft and self-expanding rafts for the first time to carry out rescue missions in waterlogged urban environments.
It also incorporated advanced rescue technologies, including unmanned crossing machines and robotic dogs, particularly in simulated factory explosion scenarios. Powered pontoon bridges were used to transport essential engineering rescue equipment, such as pile-driving boats, vital for effectively sealing breach sites.
East China province enhances capabilities to respond to natural disasters through drills
A Chinese mainland spokesperson said Lai Ching-te has sent "a dangerous signal" of seeking "Taiwan independence" and making provocations to undermine cross-Strait peace and stability in his speech upon assuming the role of Taiwan region's new leader on Monday.
Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, described Lai's speech as one that stubbornly followed the "Taiwan independence" stance, wantonly advocated separatism, incited cross-Strait confrontation and sought independence by relying on foreign support and by force.
Chen said the mainstream public aspiration on the island is for peace and development, instead of war and recession, while Lai has ignored the public opinion, exposing his nature of being "a worker for Taiwan independence."
The current complex and grave situation across the Strait is rooted in the fact that the Democratic Progressive Party has stubbornly stuck to the separatist stance of "Taiwan independence," rejected the 1992 Consensus that embodies the one-China principle, and kept colluding with external forces to make provocations of seeking "Taiwan independence," Chen said.
Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, said Chen, stressing that "Taiwan independence" and peace across the Strait are incompatible as fire and water.
"We have firm determination to resolve the Taiwan question and realize national reunification; we have strong capabilities to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity; and we will take resolute actions to fight separatist activities seeking 'Taiwan independence' and external interference," he said.
"We will never tolerate any 'Taiwan independence' separatist acts in any form," said Chen.
China must and will be reunified, Chen stressed. No matter how the situation on the island changes and who assumes the regional leader, it will not change the fact that both sides of the Strait belong to one China, or impede the historical trend of national reunification, he said.
"We will fully implement the Party's overall policy for resolving the Taiwan question in the new era, unswervingly uphold the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, work together with Taiwan compatriots to promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and cross-Strait integrated development, and resolutely advance the reunification of the motherland," said Chen.
Mainland says Lai sends "dangerous signal" in speech as Taiwan's new leader
