Widespread sandstorms engulfed large swathes of Inner Mongolia on Monday, drastically reducing visibility to under 1,000 meters in some areas and prompting emergency measures at a China-Mongolia border crossing.
On the same day, the Meteorological observatory of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued a blue wind warning and a yellow warning for sandstorm.
The dust storms, driven by strong winds, swept eastward across the region, with the western and north-central zones—including the strategic Ganqimaodu Port in Bayannur City—bearing the brunt.
Local authorities reported near-zero visibility at the border checkpoint by around 16:00, disrupting cross-border traffic.
In response, the Ganqimaodu Exit-Entry Border Inspection Station activated an emergency protocol to maintain operations. Patrols were intensified across the port’s restricted zones, while additional officers were deployed to critical posts to guide trucks and personnel safely through the low visibility.
Authorities collaborated with customs and quarantine agencies to mitigate risks, including securing loose infrastructure and deploying emergency lighting to prevent accidents caused by flying debris.
Sandstorms hit Inner Mongolia, weather authorities issue yellow warning
China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.
"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.
China's development never a threat: FM spokesman
