In the morning of July 17, the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened a meeting to study and arrange flood control and disaster relief, with General Secretary Xi Jinping presiding over the meeting and delivering an important speech.

　　 In this afternoon, Mr. E Jingping, Minister of Water Resources and concurrently Deputy Commander-in-chief of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, held a special meeting to convey and put into practice the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech, which, as was stressed at the meeting, provides the water sector a fundamental guidance on combating floods. The meeting highlighted the need to develop a profound understanding of the significance pertaining to the fact that General Secretary Xi convened a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee at this critical juncture for a thematic study of flood control and disaster relief, so as to further enhance the political stance and achieve the "two upholds". The meeting called on the water sector to regard flood control as the top priority of its current work and align itself with the CPC Central Committee with solid actions. Specifically, Minister E required the water sector to: (1) clearly define and implement the duties and responsibilities of flood control; (2) step up monitoring, forecasting and early warning; (3) constantly improve the management and regulation of water projects; (4) prepare flood detention and storage areas for operation; (5) strengthen the patrol, inspection and protection of levees/dikes; (6) keep a close watch on the safety of reservoirs in the flood season; and (7) guard against potential flash floods in mountain areas.

　　After the meeting, the Ministry of Water Resources unveiled a circular to the departments of water resources in all the provinces and all the basin authorities, so as to make arrangements for the implementation of the important speech made by General Secretary Xi Jinping.