China

极端天气四问

Xinhua | Local Language | News | Dec. 12, 2025 | Extreme Weather Events

From the night of December 10th to the 13th, China will experience the largest-area cold wave this winter, affecting the country from west to east with strong winds, significant cooling, and rain-and-snow weather. The China Meteorological Administration has issued a level-four emergency response for major meteorological disasters, including cold waves, strong winds, and heavy snow. So far this winter, there have been three cold waves with warnings, characterized by widespread strong winds and temperature drops, intense precipitation, and low-temperature freezing that impact energy supply, agriculture, transportation, and human health.

Extreme weather events in China have increased notably in frequency and intensity, particularly high temperatures, droughts, heavy rain and floods, and typhoon impacts. Typhoon landfalls in China have become more frequent and shifted northward, with recent examples including super typhoon Doksuri in 2023 causing severe floods and super typhoon Mojie in 2024 being the strongest autumn typhoon to hit mainland China. The summer of 2024 saw a prolonged heatwave lasting 74 days with numerous temperature records broken, signaling a trend of more frequent, intense, and prolonged extreme weather phenomena.

New characteristics of extreme weather in China include an increase in compound events where multiple weather hazards occur simultaneously or in succession, such as combined high temperatures, drought, heavy rain, floods, storm surges, and astronomical high tides. These compound disasters heighten risk complexity and make forecasting and mitigation more challenging. The geographic scope of extreme heavy rainfall and floods has expanded beyond southern China to northern and western areas, with increased typhoon risk in northern regions demonstrated by multiple typhoon impacts in the Northeast in 2020.

To build a strong defense against meteorological disasters, China is shifting from simple forecasting to risk-based disaster warning systems. Measures include improving institutional mechanisms, establishing dense observation networks, enhancing integrated early warning systems, and elevating disaster resistance of infrastructure. Scientific research and public communication on climate risk and disaster mitigation are being prioritized to improve society’s overall preparedness and responsiveness to the escalating challenges posed by climate change and extreme weather.

Xinhua | English | News | Dec. 12, 2025 | Climate Change

A new study published in Nature Climate Change by scientists from Nanjing University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found that abrupt and significant daily temperature fluctuations are increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change. These sharp temperature swings are becoming more extreme across low to mid-latitude regions, driven primarily by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, as confirmed through optimal fingerprinting techniques.

Climate projections indicate that under a high-emissions scenario, the frequency of these sudden temperature changes could rise by approximately 17 percent and their intensity by 20 percent by 2100, impacting regions that house over 80 percent of the global population. The physical cause involves global warming worsening soil drought, increasing variability in sea-level pressure and soil moisture, which reduces land thermal capacity and intensifies fluctuations in cloud cover and solar radiation.

The study also highlights significant health risks linked to these abrupt temperature variations, including increased mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, based on data from Jiangsu Province in China and the United States. The researchers call for global scientific recognition of extreme day-to-day temperature variability as a distinct type of extreme weather event, given its implications for public health and ecosystem stability.

China Daily | English | News | Dec. 12, 2025 | UndeterminedEconomic Growth

Global economic growth is expected to slow to 2.6 percent in 2025, down from 2.9 percent in 2024, amid a challenging external environment. However, China is projected to remain a reliable growth engine and a pillar of stability for the world, supported by rapid export market diversification, proactive fiscal policies, infrastructure investments, and an accommodative monetary stance.

A notable "dynamic stability" between China and the United States established in late October reflects a mutual willingness to engage in dialogue and create new trade rules and certainties, providing a positive signal for the global economy. Despite this, global growth is expected to stay subdued in 2026 at 2.6 percent, with some risks from the slowdown after front-loaded imports, though new technologies like artificial intelligence offer potential benefits.

China's GDP growth forecast for 2025 was raised by the IMF to 5 percent and by the Asian Development Bank to 4.8 percent. China recorded a 5.2 percent year-on-year GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2025. Its foreign trade showed resilience with total goods imports and exports reaching 41.21 trillion yuan ($5.82 trillion) in the first 11 months of the year, an increase of 3.6 percent year-on-year.

China’s export competitiveness is increasingly driven by innovation, supply chain resilience, and a strategic shift towards higher value-added sectors, beyond just pricing advantages. The country is actively opening its domestic market and promoting high-quality imports to balance trade growth. Additionally, China continues to foster inclusive development by leveraging its large market to support growth opportunities in the Global South.