“The strong gale almost blew me away,” said Huang Rongjun, a resident in the city of Shanwei, after Typhoon Haima made landfall in Guangdong province.

“I was all wet when I returned home at noon, and I saw many umbrellas blown away, as well as some billboards and tree branches taken down by the storm,” said the young woman worker.

“Many people will have to stay at home on Friday night due to the bad weather.”

According to an engineer surnamed Zhang in charge of equipment operation and maintenance at a local wind power station in Shanwei, the power grid has been shut down since Thursday night.

“Haima is so strong that more than 10 electricity generating units at the power station have been knocked out, resulting in economic losses valued at millions of yuan,” Zhang told China Daily on Friday.

Haima, meaning sea horse in Chinese, made landfall in Houmen township in Shanwei at 12:40 pm on Friday. It has caused widespread economic losses and wreaked havoc in Guangdong’s eastern coastal cities.

Haima, the 22nd typhoon to hit the Chinese coast this year, is the strongest one to strike Guangdong province in late October.

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Typhoon Haima kills at least 8 in Philippines

Source:

AFP

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Government departments are still busy calculating the direct economic losses caused by Haima. In Hong Kong, the government received at least 197 reports of fallen trees in the city, and 12 people were injured as of 4 pm.

According to Guangzhou Railway Group, all passenger train services in Guangdong’s eastern coastal areas ceased on Friday.

More than 570 flights in Shenzhen had been cancelled as of 9 am on Friday because of Haima. Shenzhen Baoan International Airport did not resume departure service until 6 pm.

China Southern Airlines also cancelled flights in Jieyang airport on Friday.

In Hong Kong, at least 742 flights were cancelled as of 2 pm, according to the Airport Authority of Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong in lockdown as Typhoon Haima nears

Source:

Reuters

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Liang Jian, chief forecaster with the Guangdong provincial meteorological observatory, said Haima is expected to weaken in Jiangxi province on Saturday morning after more than 12 hours of lashing Guangdong.

But the eastern and northern parts of Guangdong will witness downpours in the next one or two days, Liang said.

He Guoguang, an official in charge of flood relief with the Guangdong provincial department of water resources, urged relevant departments to introduce effective and concrete measures to prevent possible flooding in major rivers and landslides in the mountainous cities in the coming two days.

The Hong Kong Observatory raised a No 8 storm signal early on Friday morning, as Haima approached. Gales and heavy rains caused disturbances across the city.

In a Wellcome supermarket store in Hung Hom, Kowloon, a cashier surnamed Chan, who had worked the day shift since 6 am, said she had been so busy that she hardly had time to go to the bathroom.

Shelves for vegetables and meats were almost empty while there was no evident price hike. She said the checkout line never seemed to end and she felt exhausted.

However, prices of vegetables in wet markets went up around 10 per cent on Friday.

The Ningbo Municipal Tourism Administration posted a notice on its Weibo account on Wednesday calling on Chinese tourists to adopt civilised behaviour when travelling abroad.

A man, surnamed Li, and his wife were part of a tour group that began a six-day tour in Japan on Oct 17. Before departing the Toyoko Inn Nagoya, Li found a new electronic toilet seat cover in a box under their bed.

Li said he thought it might have been left behind by another tourist, which is why he took it, but it turned out that it belonged to the hotel.

According to Yang Shipei, manager of Shanghai Spring and Autumn International Travel Service’s Ningbo branch, which organised the tour, the hotel contacted its tour escort.

When he found out it belonged to the hotel, Li said he regretted his behaviour. He took it back to the hotel the same day with the help of the tour guide and wrote a letter of apology. The hotel forgave Li for his actions, Yang said.

But news of the incident went viral, arousing the anger of Chinese netizens, who criticised Li for discrediting the image of Chinese tourists.

According to zjol.com, a provincial leading news website, criticism from netizens amounting to what it called a “cyber-manhunt” led to the couple deciding to leave the tour, adding that one of them had already sent a resignation letter.

The tour group is scheduled to arrive back in China on Saturday.

China has taken a series of measures to eliminate uncivilized behaviour by Chinese tourists when abroad.

“We should all abide by the local laws, customs and habits when abroad to protect the international image of Chinese tourists” said Gu Weiwei, deputy director of Ningbo Municipal Tourism Administration.

China and the Philippines agreed on Thursday to properly handle their maritime disputes and restore the bilateral ties soured by the South China Sea dispute. The development is a “welcome U-turn” in the bilateral ties, said Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher of Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Rodrigo Duterte’s first visit to China as Philippine president also saw the two countries sign 13 deals, worth more than $13.5 billion (S$18.9 billion), on finance, anti-drug efforts, production co-operation and tourism, said Ramon Lopez, the Philippine trade and industry secretary.

Read also: Philippines bags $18.9 billion in deals from China

President Xi Jinping, after a grandiose welcoming ceremony for his counterpart, described his handshake with Duterte as “warm and firm”, even though the bilateral ties recently underwent some “winds and rains”.

China is the first country outside the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region that Duterte has visited since he took office in June.

Duterte sworn in as Philippines’ 16th president

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

AFP, Reuters

The visit took place amid a backdrop of bilateral ties that had suffered due to the unilateral filing of the South China Sea arbitration case against China by Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III.

Xi called on the two countries to handle disputes properly on the South China Sea issue, to set aside the disagreements, and to focus more on co-operation. China and the Philippines have a history of generations of friendship, and there are no excuses for hostility and confrontation, he said.

Xi, who called the visit a milestone for bilateral ties, said the two countries remain friendly neighbours.

Duterte expressed gratitude for China’s support for the economic development of the Philippines.

“This is the springtime of our relationship,” he told Xi, adding that the two countries should enhance co-operation in areas including trade, investment, agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure and tourism, as well as in efforts to combat drugs and terrorism.

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Duterte in China to promote economic ties

Source:

Reuters

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Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said the visit means a new page has been turned in the relationship between the two countries in addressing the South China Sea issue through bilateral consultations.

China will provide financial support for infrastructure construction in the Philippines, Liu said, and will take part in the construction.

According to Liu, Xi has announced that China will lift the travel advisories issued two years ago for Chinese people travelling to the Philippines, adding that this will encourage more Chinese to visit the Southeast Asian country.

China has also resumed permits to 27 Philippine companies that export tropical fruit, including mangoes, to the country, he added.

Jia Duqiang, the researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Duterte’s visit is a “turning point” for China-Philippines ties.

“Unlike his predecessor Benigno Aquino III, who relied much on the United States, Duterte has taken an independent approach in diplomatic policies,” he said.

Jia expressed cautious optimism regarding China-Philippines ties because “setting aside the arbitration case temporarily does not mean the resolution of disputes for good”.

Song Junying, a researcher of Asia and Pacific studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said that as a pragmatic political figure, Duterte aims to speed up the country’s economic development to bring real benefits for his people.

Aid from China will be crucial for Duterte to improve the country’s infrastructure, he said.

BEIJING – For agreeing to return to the negotiating table to settle a dispute in the South China Sea, the Philippines is getting US$9 billion (S$12.6 billion) in soft loans from China, part of the US$13.5 billion in deals signed during President Duterte’s visit to Beijing this week.

Encouraged by the apparent success of his trip, Duterte announced his “separation” from the US on Thursday, declaring it had “lost,” and he had realigned with China.

Addressing a group of Chinese and Filipino businessmen after his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Duterte said relations with the US had reached “checkmate.”

“The US has lost now,” Duterte said.

“I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to (President Vladimir) Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world-China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way,” he said.

“With that, in this venue, your honours, I announce my separation from the US, both in military, not in social, both in military (and) economics,” he remarked.

“I have separated from them. Hence, I will be dependent on you for all time. But do not worry. We will also help as you help us.”

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Duterte in China to promote economic ties

Source:

Reuters

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He means it

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana declined to comment, but National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. told reporters that Duterte meant what he said.

Manila and Washington are bound by the PH-US Mutual Defence Treaty in force since 1951.

Duterte cannot scrap the treaty on his own. Abrogation of the treaty requires action by the senate.

Xi and Duterte oversaw the signing of 13 agreements and memoranda of understanding after their talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.

The agreements included the establishment of the so-called Joint Coastal Guard Committee on Maritime Cooperation as a prelude to co-operation in the heavily disputed South China Sea.

“In this visit, bilateral relations have fully recovered, and the two countries will return to the track of dialogue and consultation to address maritime issues,” Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters after the signing of the agreements.

Liu said China welcomed the Philippines’ participation in its so-called Maritime Silk Road and committed to taking an active part in the development of infrastructure, agriculture and finance in the Philippines.

He said Xi agreed to lift travel advisories issued a few years ago to Chinese citizens travelling to the Philippines.

“This lift will encourage more Chinese citizens planning to visit the Philippines,” Liu said.

US$12.6 billion in soft loans

According to the Inquirer, during the talks, Xi committed US$6 billion in soft loans to the Philippines from the Chinese government, while another US$3 billion in credit facilities would be made available by private Chinese banks.

Xi also committed 100 million yuan (S$20.7 million), or about US$15 million, for building rehabilitation centres to aid Duterte’s brutal war on drugs. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar confirmed this information.

Other deals signed were the Agricultural Cooperation Action Plan 2017-2019, co-operation on animal and plant inspection and quarantine, conduct of feasibility studies for major projects and production capacity and investment co-operation.

The two governments also agreed on establishing economic and technological co-operation; strengthening trade, investment and economic co-operation; preparing draft on economic co-operation and development plans and implementing a tourism plan for 2017-2022.

They also agreed to co-operate on transportation and infrastructure development and to financing co-operation between the Export-Import Bank of China and the Philippines’ Department of Finance.

Duterte sworn in as Philippines’ 16th president

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

AFP, Reuters

Credit line

The two governments also agreed to share information and to co-operation between the Narcotics Control Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security of China and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, another boost for Duterte’s war on drugs.

Bank of China will open on Friday a US$3-billion credit facility for Philippine industries and infrastructure, in a deal to be signed at the close of Duterte’s visit.

Businessmen from the Philippine companies described the deal as “nonbinding.”

“They want to give us a credit line for any use we may have for it,” one company official said. “It will most likely be (loaned out) at market rates,” he said.

Eight Philippine conglomerates and corporations will enter into an agreement with Bank of China for the credit facility.

They are JG Summit Holdings, Filinvest Development Corp., Metro Pacific Investment Corp., SM Investments Corp., International Container Services Inc., Ayala Corp., Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippines Corp. and Udenna Corp.

The credit deal will be signed at the Bank of China headquarters in Beijing.

After overseeing the signing, Duterte will fly back to Davao City. He is expected to arrive there at 10:45 pm local time.

Liu said that after the talks between Xi and Duterte, China resumed giving permits to 27 Philippine companies exporting fruits, including mangoes, to the mainland.

He said China has also vowed to support the Philippines in its responsibilities as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for 2017.

Liu said the talks did not touch on Filipino fishermen’s return to Scarborough Shoal, or Panatag Shoal, which China had seized from the Philippines in 2012.

“However, they did talk about co-operation in fishery. They agreed that the two countries will strengthen fishery co-operation in the South China Sea and also co-operation in terms of fishery products (and) industries,” he said.