Chinese coastal provinces brace for typhoon Kong-rey

East China's coastal provinces pulled fishing boats onshore and suspended ferry service on Thursday as Typhoon Kong-rey was approaching after making landfall in Taiwan.

Kong-rey, the 21st typhoon of the year, made landfall on Taiwan's eastern Taitung coast around 14:00 on Thursday before barreling across the island and gradually shifting northeast toward the Fujian and Zhejiang coasts, where it is expected to weaken. According to the National Meteorological Center, Kong-rey could make landfall along the coasts of Fujian or Zhejiang provinces on its northeastward path.

China's financial hub Shanghai reported heavy rainfall on Thursday evening and issued an orange alert for rainstorms as Kong-rey is approaching.

China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow, and blue.

Heavy rainfall is expected to continue in most parts of Shanghai on Friday as meteorological observatory forecast that this round of rainfall could break records for November precipitation since 1981.

The Shanghai Emergency Management Bureau and the Fire Rescue Bureau have also stepped up safety inspections in risk-prone areas with first responders on standby for emergencies.

Fishermen in the city's Fengxian District pulled all their boats onshore by Thursday afternoon, tying the boats together to prevent potential capsizing in the upcoming storm.

"We came here to take shelter; we'll leave once the typhoon passes," said boat owner Sun Huacheng.

Additionally, to mitigate the impact of astronomical tides, water gates along the coast have been opened to lower water levels, and flood prevention supplies have been stocked in advance.

In Jinshan District, law enforcement officers from the emergency management bureau conducted comprehensive inspections of chemical facilities to ensure flood preparedness.

"Some hazardous materials can react dangerously when exposed to water, leading to fire or explosions after sufficient combustion. We require companies to strengthen their preventive measures and timely report when hazards are spotted," said Wu Haibing, an enforcement officer.

Firefighters have also serviced and inspected flood prevention equipment, including rescue robots, to ensure readiness for potential emergencies. The Shanghai Fire Rescue Corps indicated that all firefighting units are on high alert, prepared for rescue operations and drainage efforts.

In Jiangsu Province, the city of Qidong issued a blue alert for heavy rain on Thursday afternoon, forecasting 50 to 100 millimeters of rainfall in most areas on Friday, with gusts of up to 9-10 on the 13-tier Beaufort scale.

Over 300 fishing vessels returned to port on Thursday afternoon, and fisheries management authorities have alerted the around 700 boats still at sea, urging them to seek shelter.

In Ningde City of Fujian Province, local flood prevention office on Thursday afternoon raised its emergency response for flood and typhoon prevention to Level II and initiated a Level IV response for heavy rain.

In Shacheng Town, Fuding City, local maritime department deployed patrol boats to alert fishermen still at sea.

To minimize damage to crops, volunteers in Xiapu County helped farmers to reinforce their greenhouses.

At the central fishing port in Sansha Town, all vessels were safely anchored with crew members evacuated. Local power grid companies ramped up inspections of their facilities and reinforced power grid tower foundations near slopes and rivers to eliminate safety hazards.

In Xiahu Town, Xiapu County, local officials have strengthened security monitoring in disaster-prone areas including steep slopes and old residential quarters.

In Zhejiang Province, the Ningbo Flood Prevention and Drought Relief Command activated a Level III emergency response on Thursday morning, implementing storm precautions for key vessels, including passenger ships and large oil tankers.

Ningbo City suspended seven passenger ferry routes, halted 19 coastal construction projects, and evacuated 22 non-powered construction vessels on Thursday.

As of 14:00 on Thursday, 3,976 fishing vessels in Zhoushan were safely docked, with more than 285 boats south of 34 degrees north latitude being evacuated to safe areas.

Chinese coastal provinces brace for typhoon Kong-rey

Chinese coastal provinces brace for typhoon Kong-rey

The ongoing probe revolving around the late U.S. financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has become a powerful symbol of systemic dysfunction in Western political and judicial systems and has significantly eroded public trust, according to analysts.

In the latest episode of the China Global Television Network (CGTN) opinion show 'The Point with Liu Xin' which aired Wednesday, experts debated the ongoing controversies surrounding the latest release of documents in the so-called Epstein files.

The newly-released files totaling some three million pages have sparked serious scrutiny across the Atlantic, prompting the resignation of several political figures over their ties to Epstein, who died under mysterious circumstances in a maximum-security facility in 2019.

Han Hua, the co-founder and secretary general of the Beijing Club for International Dialogue, a Chinese think tank, noted how Epstein, in spite of his conviction, had seemingly built up an expansive network of the rich and powerful, and said the sense of "elite impunity" and the seeming disregard for morality among many of those involved has dealt a huge blow to Western democracy, which is supposedly built upon the basis of the rule of law.

"Right after 2008, Epstein certainly has built an even stronger and much larger Western elite circle including politicians, including academia, including the political and the religious figures like the Dalai Lama. So this actually indicates the 'bankruptcy' of the Western democracy from the moral high ground, from the rule of law. It is systematic damage to the whole system and also to the judicial and legal system. And they are building a circle that can protect Epstein and the elites in this circle from getting [allegations], from getting legally punished, so that the cases [could become] even larger. And there are so many victims, there is no perspective with regard to the victims to be protected," she said.

Josef Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University, said the ongoing Epstein saga has deeply flamed public distrust, exposing uncomfortable truths about how power operates behind closed doors.

"We've also seen, as has been raised, the question about whether or not the system can be trusted. There's intense distrust now in the system. But at the same time, I think the other point to be raised about moral authority is that what you see are leaders, figures from different fields, from across the political spectrum, essentially working together in a way, so they represent and they stoke divisions in society that exploit and suppress the people. But at the same time we see them, the left wing, the right wing, the center, all sort of having these extreme parties or relationships with each other, which really begs the question of whether or not there's a true democracy to begin with," he said.

Epstein case sows deeper distrust in Western politics, judicial systems: analysts