The Hangzhou Asian Games torch relay will kick off on Friday near the iconic West Lake, officials said at a press conference on Wednesday at the Main ­Media Center. 

A total of 2,022 torchbearers will participate in the relay, ranging in age from 14 to 84 years old. 

The torch has undergone 3,000 tests to prevent any possibility of being extinguished due to inclement weather, official said.

The relay is set to start its 13-day journey from the West Lake, a UNESCO world heritage site in East China's Zhejiang Province that dates back to the 9th century.

The torch will then journey through 11 cities in Zhejiang, including Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Zhoushan, Taizhou, Wenzhou, Lishui, Jinhua and Quzhou, before returning to Hangzhou on September 20 to complete its final leg.

This torch relay will follow the ideas of "green, intelligent, frugal, civilized," four concepts that are expected to be implemented throughout the games, which can be seen from the torch relay as well as the environmentally friendly building materials, low-tech construction means and sustainable venue facilities inside the Asian Games Village as well. 

Du Zuofeng, a deputy commander of Hangzhou Asian Games Torch Relay Command Center, told the Global Times that, first of all, the torch relay route follows the conventions of international competitions, and second, "this is also an excellent opportunity to reflect the development of Zhejiang."

"In the process to nail down the relay routes, each city has always focused on the ideas of 'a poetic Yangtze River, a vibrant Zhejiang,' and strived to highlight the 'Zhejiang style," noted Du.

For example, in its starting point of Hangzhou, the relay route was named after "the Route of Heaven," which is taken from a local idiom "Up above there is Heaven; down below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou."

In Hangzhou, participants will travel through the Liangzhu Ruins, the West Lake and Qiantang River, a vivid reflection of Hangzhou's history, innovation and ecological civilization. 

A number of famous athletes including badminton world champions Chen Yufei and Wang Yilü, swimming world champions Wang Shun and Ye Shiwen, and table tennis world champion Fan Zhendong will carry the torch.

Industry pace-setters such as Shi Yigong, an academician at West Lake University, digital economy representative Zhang Yong and Zero Magnetic Medical Technology Innovation Center Ning Xiaolin, who is also a representative of China's science and technology industry, will participate.

National-level "moral models" including Cui Yiwen and Peng Qinglin have also been invited to run for the event. The former was stabbed eight times to protect her classmate and the latter saved a drowning girl by jumping off a 12-meter-high bridge.

To allay the concerns that the torch might be put out during the journey, a total of 3,000 tests were made in various simulated conditions.

"The Hangzhou Asian Games torch has passed the tests such as indoor level 10 rotating winds, but also outdoor scenes imitating seaside, typhoon, heavy rain and wind conditions. The results show that the torch cannot be put out even under 300mm/h rainfall," added Du.

The flame for the Asian Games was ignited at the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu in June, which marked the beginning of the 100-day countdown to this intra-continental multi-sport event.

Meanwhile, a "digital torchbearer" campaign is being held online for fans who are unable to attend the off-line torch relay. More than 76 million people have participated in a virtual torch relay as digital torchbearers through online platforms, organizers said.

The Hangzhou Asian Games will open on September 23 and close on October 8, with 12,417 athletes and 4,975 officials from 45 countries and regions set to participate, the organizing committee announced.

Team China suffered a defeat against the top-ranked South Korean team with a score of 27-30 in women's épée team semifinal of the fencing event at the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday. Despite only collecting a bronze medal, Olympic champion Sun Yiwen, a 31-year-old veteran, wasn't discouraged. 

This team event marked the first time Sun led a new lineup consisting of young athletes Xu Nuo, Shi Yuexin and Tang Junyao. In a post-match interview, Sun said that the competition was a great learning experience. She and her teammates gained confidence and hope from playing at this level, and they will continue to work hard in future Olympic qualification events.

On Sunday, the first official competition day of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Sun faced the top-seeded South Korean fencer Song Sera in the quarterfinals of the women's épée individual event. 

Despite a string of disappointing defeats, Sun remained composed and even smiled throughout the interview session in the mixed zone after the match.

On her third trip to the Asian Games, Sun is the only Olympic champion in the Chinese fencing team. Reflecting on the experience, she said, "Among the three Asian Games I have participated in, this one is particularly memorable. It is a competition held on home soil, and it is also the last edition of the Asian Games."

At the Tokyo Olympics, Sun became the first Chinese fencer in history to win the Olympic individual women's épée competition's top laurel. 

But the win came with a price. Sun suffered caudal vertebrae and knee injuries. It was not until October 2022 that she was able to resume training. In an interview following her return, Sun said the injuries had had a great impact on her career, adding that she had also made some mistakes after her return to sports. 

Despite all that, Sun has put up an impressive performance at the Hangzhou Games. 

Looking ahead to the Paris 2024 Olympics, Sun expressed her desire to stand on the podium once again. "In a sport like fencing, especially women's sabre, there is only one person who has won two championships, and two or three people have stood on the podium twice in a row. I believe I can continue to compete and hope to break through myself," she said.

The Games have also witnessed the final battles of several legendary veterans, such as 48-year-old Uzbekistani gymnast Oksana Chusovitina and 34-year-old table tennis great Ma Long.

Reminiscing on a career that has featured both ups and downs, Sun's goal isn't just about getting more medals anymore. She has set her eyes on inspiring younger Chinese athletes through her story and experience. 

"As a veteran, compared with young athletes, I can bear more. In addition to injuries, I also have to overcome difficulties such as slow recovery caused by age. However, luckily, I have the ability to stay in the team and help young players grow faster with rich competition experience," Sun said. 

"No matter what difficulties I encounter, I will never give up."

China's figure skating team set their sights on competing in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final on home ice as the skating pairs had an open training session on Thursday at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing. 

The 2023 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series consists of six international senior events that culminate with the final to be held in Beijing from ­December 7 to 10. 

Currently, Chinese skaters are gearing up for the fourth leg of the series, which will take place in Southwest ­China's Chongqing Municipality from November 10 to 12. The three pairs who will compete in Chongqing and a junior pair took part in the training session. 

Figure skating has been one of the most popular winter sports in China since pair skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo clinched China's first figure skating gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. 

Since Chinese pair skaters Sui Wenjing and Han Cong stepped out of competition after winning gold in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Peng Cheng and Wang Lei have emerged as the top pair for China.  

Yao Jia, manager of the national figure skating team, told the Global Times after the training that she expects the young skaters to gain experience and win enough points at each international event to qualify for the final in Beijing and the year 2024's world championships in Canada.

"For the new season, we have set different goal for each member. As to Peng and Wang, their goal is to qualify for the grand prix final in Beijing, which means that they need to achieve a podium finish at two of the six legs of the grand prix," said Yao. 

Pair skaters and men's skater Jin Boyang are favorites to reach the final. Jin will also compete in Chongqing after finishing the third leg in France this week, Yao noted.

Regarding the pressure of competing on home ice, Yao said a growing number of domestic fans have given them more motivation, and she sees getting into the final as a success for the team. 

Peng won fifth place in pair skating at the Beijing Olympics with former partner Jin Yang. Since striking up a new partnership with Wang in March, the duo has made steady progress. 

In their debut at the international event, Peng and Wang came from behind to triumph at the ISU 2023 Shanghai Trophy on October 4. 

"From their current form and overall difficulty, they have achieved their initial goals. However, pair skating requires cooperation. I think they still need more time to enhance mutual understanding and cultivate a stronger chemistry," Yao said.

Wang, 35, told the Global Times that the most important thing is to remain true to his original aspiration and that he wants to go further with his new partner. "We're getting better on the ice. Peng is an excellent skater. We have good communication, and we can remain calm and summarize what we didn't do well during daily training," Wang said. 

Peng is grateful for her partner's support and trust. 

"We've overcome a lot of difficulties in the past months. Staying composed against the odds is crucial to our partnership," Peng noted. 

"He takes the initiative to inquire about my emotional shifts and unravel the complexities within my heart. We can shoulder the challenges together," said Peng. 

As one of the legacies of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, more international winter sports events have come to China and provided young skaters opportunities to progress. 

In addition to the grand prix final in Beijing, the Chinese team is also preparing for the 2024 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, which will take place in Shanghai from January 30 to February 4, 2024. 

"We have fielded young skaters to compete in the ISU Junior Grand Prix as more international events will help them improve. I hope young players could win enough points to participate in the four continents championships," Yao said. 

China's General Administration of Sport held a winter training mobilization meeting on Friday in Beijing. The meeting summarized the work and achievements for the Hangzhou Asian Games and analyzed the preparations for the Paris Olympic Games, pointing out that the preparations for the Paris Olympics have fully entered the final combat state.

Gao Zhidan, director of China's General Administration of Sport, noted at the meeting that Chinese athletes have strived and continuously achieved excellent results in major international competitions such as the Olympic Games and Asian Games. The Chinese sports delegation achieved both excellent results in sports and spirits at the Hangzhou Asian Games, successfully completing all participation tasks and achieving the goal of training and preparation for the Paris Olympics.

Currently, there are less than nine months left before the opening of the Paris Olympics. This winter training is the last winter training before the Paris Olympics and is a critical period for solidifying the foundation, enhancing capabilities, and preparing for participation. 

Gao pointed out that it is necessary to organize this winter training work with the highest standards and strictest requirements, further enhance the comprehensive quality of Chinese athletes, and fully showcase the developmental achievements of China in the new era and the positive image of Chinese youth.

During winter training, Gao emphasized the need to make comprehensive preparation and projection, fully grasp the situation of the main competitors, form and strengthen one's own technical and tactical style characteristics by scientifically formulating countdown training and competition plans. The Chinese athletes also need to intensify their training, solidify the foundation, enhance strength, strictly manage overseas competitions and training, and calmly refine techniques. In terms of strengthening management, the involved departments will resolutely curb the spread of "fan circle" culture in the national team. On doping control, Gao stressed that China will continue to follow a policy of zero tolerance to ensure a clean sport.

Meanwhile, Gao emphasized that the preparation work for the Paris Olympics has fully entered the final stage. The athletes and their teams must shoulder the mission and strive to reach new heights at the Paris Olympic Games through this year's winter training.

The Austrian Cultural Center in Beijing recently invited artists Honey and Bunny to organize the performance art exhibition "Diets, resources, and aesthetics" at the Markor Cave Museum. This exciting event was organized to commemorate the International Day of Food Loss and Waste Awareness. 

Food waste, environmental protection, food distribution, and sustainable use of resources are global issues that have attracted the attention of all sectors of society, and can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, including ethics, science, and art. This theme was deeply explored through "eating" art performances and food design, which were rich, revelatory experiences for audiences.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relationships between China and Austria in 1971, cultural exchanges between the two countries have been very active, and this performance art exhibition is a witness to the friendly exchanges between the two peoples.

A series of photographic artworks created by the artists Honey and Bunny on the subject of food are on display at the exhibition, complimenting wonderful performances through conversation sessions and performance art pieces, inspiring a deep understanding among audience and their reflections on "Diets, resources, and aesthetics." This exhibition is not only a friendly international art and culture exchange feast, but also deepens cultural cooperation between China and Europe.

Situated in Li county in Northwest China's Gansu Province, commonly seen as the birthplace of China's Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC) culture, a local archaeological site has recently been found to have been a large-scale architectural complex used for sacrificial ceremonies.

The Sijiaoping Ruins are located on an excavated flat platform on the top of a mountain in the county. The ancient man-made platform covers an area of 28,000 square meters and was encircled by a rammed earth wall. At the center of the site is a square platform with annexes on either side of it.

Archaeologist Wang Meng told the Global Times that the entire configuration of the site delivers a "sense of grandeur and solemnity." The symmetrical and square designs are often seen in many ancient Chinese designs, especially in high-grade and royal architecture. The "symmetrical" design is particularly common as it embodies Chinese people's belief in harmony.

Exquisitely made ancient objects like eaves tiles, also known as wadang, decorated with cloud patterns and tiles featuring a rope pattern were found scattered inside the ruins. Those artifacts gave experts the clues they needed to narrow down the specific time period of the site.

Hou Hongwei, the lead expert of the Sijiaoping archaeological project, said that the tiles and eaves tiles were "very similar" to the ones discovered in the mausoleum of the Qin Dynasty Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

"According to the production techniques and decorative details on those unearthed building materials, we can preliminarily identify the Sijiaoping site as a high-level ceremonial building from the Qin Dynasty," the expert said.

Besides the visible structures, the Qin ceremonial site also contained a half-crypt space. The space was covered with tiles on both the walls and floor. Experts predict it was once a water pool. The pool was most likely closely tied to the Qin people's "belief in the virtues of water," Hou remarked.
While the function of the Sijiaoping ruins is only recently identified, their importance had already been noticed by scholars when the site was first discovered in 2019.

The Sijiaoping site was discovered near another site, the Dabaozi Mountain site, which is also in Gansu Province. The Dabaozi Mountain site is a tomb cluster covering some 18 square kilometers.

Archaeologist Xue Ruiming told the Global Times that the Dabaozi Mountain site reveals that Li county was once the "center of the Qin regime during the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC)."

The Sijiaoping architectural complex was established after the Qin Kingdom was unified. The Sijiaoping site is the only "systematic" and complete building complex from the time period discovered to date. It demonstrates the burial and ritual traditions of the Qin.

"The close connections between the two sites help our contextual analysis of the Qin Dynasty's burial and ritual traditions. Such a discovery contributes to scholar's analysis of early Chinese sacrificial traditions," said Xue.

Unlike Western ceremonial buildings that often carry a religious mission, ancient ritual buildings in China reflect the country's ancient philosophy.

Their unique shapes and configurations during different historical periods were manifestations of ancient Chinese people's perspectives on people-to-people relations, the dynamic between human beings and nature and ethics.

Compared to the Qin Dynasty's "solemn" style, ceremonial buildings of the Xia Dynasty (c.2070BC-c.1600BC) were more pragmatic as they hosted collective activities. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770BC-256BC), the design of ritual buildings paid closer attention to the ease of transportation.

More than 3,000 stone tools have been unearthed during the latest excavations at the Piluo site, a large-scale Paleolithic site that can be traced back to more than 200,000 years ago in Daocheng county, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, reported by the Sichuan TV on Monday.

The Piluo site, located at the southeastern foothills of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau at an altitude of about 3,750 meters, has revealed more than 15,000 stone artifacts, including hand axes and thin-blade axes, since the commencement of the archaeological excavations in April 2021.

The latest phase, kicking off in July, is the third of its kind and covers approximately 150 square meters, providing archaeologists with crucial materials to comprehend the stratigraphic accumulation, artifact distribution and stone tool making across different regions of the site, according to the report.

Tan Peiyang, a deputy director of the Old Stone Age archaeology research institute at the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that during this year's excavation, they found out that some areas had layers less than a meter thick, while others had layers as thick as seven to eight meters. 

This variability allowed them to construct a chronological framework spanning from 200,000 years ago to tens of thousands of years ago, Tan added.

The Piluo site not only unravels the layers of history but also presents a continuous cultural sequence, showcasing the evolution of stone tool technology during the Paleolithic era. 

One notable finding is the "Acheulean technology deposits," consisting of hand axes, thin-blade axes, picks and stone knives, making it the world's highest-altitude Acheulean technology site, which also demonstrates the ability, methods and historical progression of ancient humans in conquering high-altitude extreme environments as early as 200,000 years ago, the report said.

"Tools like the Acheulean hand axes represent the first standardized tool in human history. With a symmetrical, teardrop-shaped design, these artifacts not only served practical purposes but also exhibited aesthetic features. This technological advancement reflects a significant shift in early human cognition," Tan noted.

During the excavation, the archaeological team conducted systematic surveys of the surrounding areas, discovering multiple Paleolithic sites, with the highest at elevations surpassing 4,300 meters. 

The Piluo site's archaeological pavilion, integrating excavation, exhibition and research functions, is set to open in June 2024, the report said. 

The discoveries at Piluo site have been listed as one of China's top 10 archaeological revelations of 2021, recognized by the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

The US is plagued with a drug abuse problem more acute than any other countries as 12 percent of global drug users come from the North American country, two times higher than the proportion of its population.

Provisional data indicates that nearly 110,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2022, the highest of all time, and more than two-thirds of the deaths involved the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, as per US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fentanyl-related deaths among children increased more than 30-fold between 2013 and 2021, the Associated Press reported.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, when visiting China in late August, claimed that US hopes to cooperate with China to tackle the rapidly increasing rates of fentanyl overdoses. However, the country simultaneously keeps scapegoating China on the issue, imposing sanctions and filing criminal charges against Chinese enterprises and individuals.

Through an investigation into the US' opioid crisis which reveals the country's legislative and law enforcement failures over the decades, the Global Times found that the US is disinclined to find a radical cure, while scapegoating China as a conduit for mounting anger in American society. All this serves the US' strategic rivalry with China.

Painkiller becomes source of pain

There is nothing new under the sun, and the US' fentanyl crisis is a continuation of its forbearer Oxycodone, a strong, semi-synthetic opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain.

The Netflix TV drama Painkiller released in 2023, adapted from a book published in 2003, revealed how the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma colluded with US medicinal regulators and developed aggressive marketing tactics to promote its brand name product OxyContin, an extended-release form of Oxycodone, as less likely to cause addiction, raking in tens of millions of dollars.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), charged with the responsibility of prescription drug use regulation, gave OxyContin the green light in 1995 even though neither long-term studies nor assessments of its addictive capabilities had been thoroughly conducted.

Two principal FDA reviewers who originally approved Purdue's application both took positions at the company after leaving the agency. In the following two decades, more FDA staffers involved in opioid approvals left the FDA to work for opioid makers, according to the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics.

Purdue offered kickbacks, paid lecturers, and organized free seminar vacations to doctors to incentivize them to prescribe OxyContin, leading to a tenfold increase in prescriptions for less serious pain, from about 670,000 in 1997 to about 6.2 million in 2002.
As Purdue earned billions of dollars from oxycodone sales, other drug companies took note; when the numerous unnecessary prescriptions were given to chronic pain patients, addiction and overdose deaths soared.

The US' healthcare system also contributed - "Most insurance, especially for poor people, won't pay for anything but a pill," said Judith Feinberg, a professor at West Virginia University with expertise in infectious diseases associated with drug injection.

The US Department of Health and Human Services estimated that about 11 million people in the US consume oxycodone in a non-medical way annually.

Although Purdue was ultimately brought to justice, addicts are not redeemed. The large, ever expanding group of drug dependence, without proper social support and intervention, easily became the victims of new, more powerful drugs - fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which is also FDA-approved and up to 50 and 100 times stronger than heroine and morphine respectively.

Fentanyl, the cheaper to make yet more lethal drug and its close cousins became the biggest drug-related killers in the US in 2016, the Associated Press reported.

The media has reported on how drug users addicted to other substances unknowingly ingest fentanyl, as local dealers sell "traditional" products like cocaine "cut" with fentanyl, or pills containing fentanyl that are "advertised as legitimate prescription drugs."

Incapable legislation, enforcement

With around 4 percent of the world's population, the US consumes 80 percent of the world's opioids.

Why is the US?

The US' drug problem, including the current fentanyl abuse crisis, is deeply rooted in the country's lobbying political structure and ideology, said Zhang Yifei, an associate research fellow at the Institute of American Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The colossal profits bundle pharmaceutical companies with the FDA, sponsored politicians, academic groups, and the media, making the fentanyl crisis a predictable tragedy in the US that has enriched a few at the expense of many lives lost, Zhang said.

Academic institutions provide "scientific proof," media and think tanks propagate said proof, and drug makers lobby the government - this is a very complete and mature chain, Zhang elaborated, "They have various ways to exchange rights and interests through the 'revolving door' system."

Zhang also pointed to "the pan-liberalism trend in the US, which emphasizes the absolute freedom of individuals."

US governments, be they federal or state, are incapable of exercising effective regulation on many issues, although some of them, like drugs and guns, have endangered the public, Zhang said.

When the public demands for freedom of marijuana use, governments and drug companies "hear" these calls and legalize the drug, milking profits from sales. Even in states where marijuana remains illegal, its use is prevalent and law enforcement efforts to curb use are almost nonexistent.

A Chinese national who used to live in North Carolina, told the Global Times that it is common to see people "getting high" in public in broad daylight when the drug is illegal.

In the same way, only until the fentanyl crisis becomes so critical that the public demands for action to be taken, will the government finally act. The first fentanyl-related act passed in Congress in 2017, four years after lawmakers receiving alert on the drug.
When actions are finally taken, they cannot avoid the trap of US' political wrestling.

Lawmakers, during the US' 2023 legislative session, introduced over 600 bills related to fentanyl. However, in a deeply divided country, many of the fentanyl crime laws are notable for attracting bipartisan support, the New York Times reported in June. When Republican-controlled House reviewed a bill on fentanyl trafficking in May, 132 of the 133 vetoes came from Democrats.

Another incongruous approach is the use of "safer" supervised consumption services (SCS) through which people can use pre-obtained drugs "safety" with the support of trained personnel. Funded by public money, it is hard to say whether such facilities can curb overdoses more than treating those with an addiction, not to mention such "legal sites" can mislead youth to believe addiction and drug use are nothing to worry.

Zeng Lidu, a grassroots narcotic control officer in Central China's Hunan Province, told the Global Times that the US approach of control sounds "odd" in China, which, as one of the countries with the most effective drug control, closely monitors the maker rather than potential user.

"Fentanyl has variable structures, making it more difficult than the traditional drugs to crack down on," Zeng told the Global Times. "In our district, only a few chemical plants and hospitals are allowed the use of fentanyl under close supervision. We trace and regulate every step in their use, transportation, and storage of fentanyl."

Experts told the Global Times that many fentanyl precursors are widely used in the chemical industry. China, as a chemical giant, does not have a fentanyl abuse problem at home, which says a lot about the root cause of the American drug disease.

Not cooperation but scapegoating

Out of humanitarianism, China is willing to cooperate with the US in tackling the proliferation of fentanyl and has established a cooperation mechanism with the US on the issue.

China scheduled and controlled all fentanyl-related substance by class in 2019 - the first country to do so in the world, while the US itself is yet to do the same. China formulated three legal documents to support the filing, prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of offenses involving these substances. To reinforce fentanyl testing and monitoring, five sub-centers of the National Drug Laboratory have been established across the country.

But the US in 2020 unilaterally and arbitrarily imposed sanctions on the institute of forensic science under China's Ministry of Public Security and National Drug Laboratory, severely jeopardizing related cooperation.

A new vilification of China popular in the US is that Chinese firms sell commonly used chemicals to a third country, such as Mexico, where fentanyl is manufactured and later sold to the US. Citing this, the US has sanctioned Chinese companies, even including tablet press machine makers.

Analysts stressed the "know your customer" practice that some in the US have been asking about far exceeds UN obligations. According to international practices, it is up to the importing country to ensure that imported goods are not used for illegal purposes, not the exporter. China has no sovereign right over a third country, and Chinese companies are not capable of verifying all buyers of its product.

Zhang Yifei said scapegoating China on fentanyl is an easy and convenient approach for the US government to unleash domestic anger against ineffective drug control.

Through distorted coverage on the issue, domestic media outlets successfully sell "China responsible" narrative to Americans at home. By repeatedly hyping the narrative at international occasions, the US also adds fentanyl into its recipe cooking "China threat."

In this sense, fentanyl is essentially same to long-term smear campaign against China on many topics including human rights in Xinjiang region, Zhang said.

As the presidential elections approach, blaming China for its domestic social handicaps as a political tactic sounds ridiculous, but quite a number of US politicians and voters buy this logic, Zhang noted. As the US' domestic political infighting escalates, chance of cooperation on this area which the US is in urgent need of, may narrow even further.

Saltwater intrusion in Vietnam's Mekong Delta is forecast to come early this year, Vietnam News reported Thursday.

Localities in the region are preparing plans to ensure adequate water for the winter-spring rice harvest and reduce the damage inflicted by drought and salinity, according to the report.

The rainy season this year is predicted to have remained in the delta only in the previous and the current months, concluding midway through next month.

The early end of the rainy season leads to anticipated water shortage in local farming areas.

Throughout the dry spell of this year and the next, the intrusion of saltwater is expected to appear a month sooner than the multi-year average, commencing in mid to late December.

According to the Southern Institute of Water Resources Research, the total rainfall this year is forecast to be about 1,350 mm, only 1 percent higher than 2015, which saw severe drought, and about 13 percent lower than the average of many years.

Vietnam's Mekong Delta region, which comprises 12 provinces and Can Tho City, is normally affected by saltwater intrusion from the sea during the dry season which lasts from December to April.

In the severely dry season from 2015 to 2016, saltwater intrusion and drought caused the loss of 1 million tons of paddy in the delta, and 500,000 households in the delta suffered a shortage of daily use water.

While terrorist attacks and violence linked to racial division continue to increase in Europe and the US, Chinese experts warned on Tuesday that the Israel-Palestine conflict has brought to light the deep-rooted divisions within Western societies, as well as the contradictions of ethnic antagonism, and the Western countries should reflect on this, rather than evade the problem.

Two Swedish nationals were shot to death and a third one was wounded in central Brussels on Monday night, and a man who identified himself as a member of the Islamic State claimed responsibility in a video posted online, Reuters reported.

The suspected assailant fled the scene after the shooting spree as a soccer match between Belgium and Sweden was about to start, prompting Belgium to raise its terror alert to the highest level. Hours later on Tuesday, Belgian police said that the suspected gunman was shot dead by police in a cafe, Reuters reported.

The shooting comes at a time of heightened security concerns in some European countries linked to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

A man of Chechen origin stabbed to death a teacher and severely wounded two other adults on Friday at a school in northeastern France, an act that President Emmanuel Macron denounced as "Islamist terror," said AFP.

What's more, an Illinois landlord accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old Muslim boy and seriously wounding his mother was charged with a hate crime after police and relatives said he singled out the victims because of their faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas. 

"Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis," the sheriff's statement said.

Experts believed that the Israel-Palestine conflict is the trigger, but the deep divisions in the societies of the US and Europe are the source of increased ethnic hatred. Such a division will inevitably affect the strategic coordination and strategic autonomy between the US and Europe.

In recent days, police in US cities and federal authorities have been on high alert for violence driven by anti-semitic or Islamophobic sentiments. FBI officials, along with Jewish and Muslim groups, have reported an increase of hateful and threatening rhetoric. 

Because Western societies have maintained an attitude of taking sides concerning the issue of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the existing disputes between the two countries have intensified, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

The US and Europe are most affected because the problem was actually created by the two, Li noted. "The US and Europe need to face up to and resolve their own divisions first, rather than evading problems and stirring up conflict elsewhere."