Editor's note: John Gong is a professor at the University of International Business and Economics and a research fellow at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at UIBE. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

I wish the climate change deniers would have the opportunity to spend this summer in any of the three most economically important regions of the world. Extreme heat and drought conditions are battering China, Europe and the United States more or less at the same time. And the global economy is inevitably taking a beating, on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the subsequent inflationary, recessionary pressures looming in many parts of the world.

Southwest China's Sichuan Province, which is the source of a large portion of China's hydropower supply, is being hit particularly hard. A disastrous absence of summer rains this year coupled with extreme temperature highs that have regularly approached 40 degrees Celsius, has left rivers and reservoirs there with fractions of their normal water supply. As a result, many dams cannot generate enough electricity. The drought is also taking a toll on agriculture, as it impacts the irrigation needs for crops.

There is no doubt that 2022 is a tough year. But one thing sure about the Chinese government is that it is not going to stand idly by with a defeatist attitude. The State Council, the relevant ministries, the local municipal and the provincial governments have all tried to help amidst a mountain of challenges.

The Ministry of Water Resources is probably the busiest at this moment, in terms of mobilizing resources to alleviate the problem. According to Xinhua News Agency, it has ordered release of inventory water from reservoirs along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River to the amount of 1.48 billion cubic meters in total so far. Some of the water will help mitigate the shortages in affected cities and some will help with irrigation needs in agriculture.

The Ministry of Agriculture has sent out teams of experts to the drought-hit provinces to help farmers' efforts to minimize the impact. Right now it is only a month away from the autumn harvesting season.

Some city governments are also trying to do whatever they can. For example, in the hardest hit region, in Sichuan Province, some municipal governments have ordered to open the subway systems and shopping malls to accommodate citizens for some cooling time. Incidentally there are some reports in the Western media that twistingly interpret this as evidence of increased homeless population in China as a result of the harsh economic reality.

That is, of course, total nonsense. In terms of taking care of the homeless, the Chinese government is performing well as people can barely see such group in the country. In fact, the homeless phenomenon itself is a rare scene in China compared to, say, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and yes, Philadelphia. This is largely because the city governments in China play an active role in helping the extreme poor. Chinese President Xi Jinping's poverty elimination drive has also contributed enormously in alleviating such phenomenon and protecting people's rights.

Nevertheless, let's be honest that this is a particularly challenging time. Extreme weathers around the globe are threatening people's lives and economies. But no matter how much the economy takes a beating, rest assured that Chinese leadership are doing their best to try to turn things around. Against all the hardship, the Chinese government will try its best to minimize the impact brought by this round of extreme heat and actively participate in climate change cooperation with countries around the world.       

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on Twitter to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)