Typhoon Matmo forces emergency responses in south China, 271,500 people evacuated in Guangdong

Typhoon Matmo has forced emergency responses including large-scale evacuations in south China.

Typhoon Matmo, the 21st named storm of the 2025 Pacific typhoon season, made landfall along the eastern coast of Xuwen County, Zhanjiang City in south China's Guangdong Province around 14:50 on Sunday, according to Guangdong's meteorological service.

The typhoon made landfall with maximum wind force near its center reaching 42 meters per second and a central minimum pressure of 965 hectopascals.

Guangdong has raised its typhoon emergency response to the highest level, with cumulative evacuations exceeding 271,500 people.

Railway authorities have taken measures such as adjusting operating sections and temporarily suspending operations to ensure safety of the passengers during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, which entered its fifth day on Sunday.

All coastal passenger ferry routes have been suspended in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Approximately 26,000 tourists on its Weizhou Island were evacuated, with no one stranded. Coastal projects and ports have halted operations.

The Guangxi maritime authority activated the top-level emergency response on Sunday morning, and has organized more than 20,000 fishing boats to return to ports and secured 889 other ships in ports.

The island province of Hainan had relocated over 197,000 people from high-risk areas as of Sunday noon.

Hainan's water affairs departments have coordinated power generation vehicles, oil and other materials to ensure water supply, and more than 3,900 emergency generators to ensure power supply.

The 71 emergency response hotels in Haikou City are offering discounted prices for the affected tourists.

The National Development and Reform Commission has allocated 200 million yuan (about 28 million U.S. dollars) from the country's central budget to support emergency restoration work in Guangdong and Hainan.

Typhoon Matmo forces emergency responses in south China, 271,500 people evacuated in Guangdong

The multilateral system is "under attack" amid global turmoil, President of the 80th UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock warned in her remarks on Wednesday.

In her briefing on the priorities for the resumed 80th Session of the General Assembly, the UNGA president noted that the current multilateral system does not collapse all in a sudden, but "crumbles piece by piece" in divisions, compromises, and lack of political commitment.

The president called all the UN member states to defend the UN Charter and international law and promote cross-regional cooperation.

She also urged to push forward the work of the UNGA on certain critical issues with a strong majority, rather than an absolute consensus among all member states. Such act is not a failure of multilateralism, but "an affirmation of it," she said.

The foundational principles of the institution should not be eroded by appeasement, she said, calling the member states to show courage, leadership, and responsibility at the UN's "critical make-or-break moment."

"The UN needs you. Your support, your leadership, your principle, stand, your cross-regional cooperation, if we are to preserve and modernize this institution, if we are to make it, rather than break it," she said.

UNGA President warns global multilateral system "under attack"