Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) yesterday visited a village in Nantou County that was hard-hit by Typhoon Morakot, but no victims were invited to share their experience with him, while protesters were blocked by police.
Morakot slammed southern Taiwan in August, claiming at least 700 lives and causing the nation’s worst flooding in 50 years. Prior to his arrival in Taichung on Monday, Chen had said he hoped to visit areas affected by the typhoon.
Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday arranged for Chen to visit Hsinshan Village (新山村), where 17 of 30 houses were flooded by the Chenyoulan River during the typhoon.
Chen said he hoped Lee would “express our goodwill to the areas hit by Typhoon Morakot” after listening to a briefing on the village’s reconstruction process.
“I feel sad that this natural disaster caused such serious damage, but on the other hand, I am impressed by the effectiveness of the government agencies in disaster relief and reconstruction work,” Chen said.
ARATS said it received NT$450 million (US$13 million) in donations from people in China, adding it had given NT$150 million to the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and would wire the remaining NT$300 million next week.
SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) said ARATS had expressed its concern about the disaster immediately after the typhoon, adding that the SEF would make good use of the
donations from China to help victims rebuild.
Chiang said the SEF had planned to arrange a visit to hard-hit areas in southern Taiwan, but did not do so “because of time constraints.”
Severely affected areas in southern Taiwan such as Tainan and Kaohsiung counties are mostly governed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Chen left Hsinshan for a lunch banquet at Sun Moon Lake after speaking to the media. He declined to comment on an incident on Wednesday night, in which a police officer was injured after falling from a truck as he tried to stop protesters from shooting fireworks at the hotel where Chen was staying.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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