China is now one of the world's worst sufferers of weather-related adversities and disasters, which inflict direct economic losses accounting for three to six percent of its whole Gross Domestic Product.

Qin Dahe, director general of the China Meteorological Administration, said in Beijing Wednesday at a strategic meeting on national meteorological work that since the latter half of the 20th century, global warming and increased disastrous weather conditions have exerted a considerable negative impact on China's social and economic development.

"The warming up of the temperature has brought about numerous problems of ecology, resources and environment, which constrained the sustained social and economic development while threatening the country's security and environmental diplomacy," said Qin.

According to experts, the extreme disastrous weather conditions threatening China mainly include the frequent dry spells hitting the northern China, tropical cyclones like typhoons striking the eastern coastal areas and the rapid rise in the number of rainstorms.

Among them, drought stands as the most dangerous threat as figures show they contribute to about half of the losses created by weather-related disasters, which, in turn, contribute to more than 70 percent of the losses resulted from various natural disasters.

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2003)