The Central Weather Bureau was scheduled to issue a sea alert late last night for Typhoon Meranti, which is threatening southern Taiwan, and it could not rule out the possibility of issuing a land alert this morning.
Meranti picked up strength at about 2pm yesterday, when its center was 1,000km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving northwest toward the coast of the Hengchun Peninsula at 22kph, the bureau said.
With a radius of 200km, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of about 183.6kph and gusts of up to 226.8kph, bureau data show.
The typhoon’s circumfluence could affect the weather in Taiwan today, with chances of showers being high in eastern, northern and southern regions as well as the mountainous area in the center of the nation, forecaster Lin Ding-yi (林定宜) said.
Heavy rain is expected tonight, but the nation would feel Meranti’s effects more strongly tomorrow and Thursday morning, particularly residents in southern and eastern Taiwan, he said.
Based on the bureau’s projected path for Meranti, the typhoon’s eye would probably not make landfall in Taiwan.
However, it would pass through the sea very close to the southwest coast of the Hengchun Peninsula before moving west toward China.
The Maritime Port Bureau said that 28 shipping services are scheduled to be canceled today and tomorrow, with most of them operating off the east coast between Orchid Island (蘭嶼, also known as Lanyu) and Green Island (綠島).
In addition, a charter ship service between Taichung and Kinmen County, scheduled for 11pm tomorrow, will be canceled, the Kinmen County government said.
National Dong Hwa University in Hualien County also announced yesterday that tomorrow’s classes will be canceled, while administrative staff will not have to work past noon.
Apart from Meranti, there are two tropical depressions that have the potential of turning into tropical storms, the bureau said.
One is located near the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and is moving northwest at 15kph, the bureau said. That depression is forecast to move toward Indochina after turning into a tropical storm and is less likely to affect Taiwan, it said.
The path of the other depression, which was west of Guam and moving northwest at 20kph, would have to be determined after further observation, as it is still about 2,000km from Taiwan, the bureau said.
Additional reporting by CNA
SHOW OF SUPPORT: As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan might collaborate with Manila against China’s aggressive actions, MOFA said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday hinted that Taiwan might join forces with the Philippines to protect navigational freedoms, days after Beijing blocked Philippine supply ships in the South China Sea. The ministry made the comment when asked whether Taipei would be willing to join forces with the Philippines to protect the latter from increasingly aggressive activities by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy and China Coast Guard. Taiwan “is willing to cooperate with any other nation with shared values in areas of common concern, including maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacfic region,” it wrote in a statement. A Chinese
‘LIKE A BLACK HOLE’: The figure is about 7% of China’s reported military spending, although diplomats and experts say that number is often opaque or not fully inclusive China spent about US$15 billion, or 7 percent of its defense budget, on exercises in the western Pacific last year, according to a previously unpublished Taiwanese estimate, showing Beijing’s investment in military activity around Taiwan and its neighbors. The internal research by the military, reviewed by Reuters, offers a rare look into a slice of China’s defense spending as Beijing has ramped up its military presence amid rising tensions in the region. China claims Taiwan as its own and is also locked in disputes with several nations over sovereignty of large parts of the South China Sea and the East China Sea. “This
‘GLOBAL THREAT’: MOFA said that it welcomes the ‘staunch US support’ and that ‘China again made spurious claims about Taiwan that do not accord with reality’ US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stressed the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait, while a senior Chinese military official warned the US to stop “collusion” with Taiwan in a rare one-on-one meeting yesterday, both sides said. Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, the first US national security adviser to visit China since 2016, for three days of talks with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and other high-ranking officials. Yesterday morning, Sullivan met with Zhang Youxia (張又俠), vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and China’s second-highest-ranking military official, at the Beijing headquarters of the commission.
PRESSURE: The Solomon Islands, acting under explicit instructions from Beijing, is aiming to prevent Taiwan from attending the next forum to be held in Honiara Australia has voiced support for Taiwan despite the Solomon Islands’ plan to undermine Taiwan’s status as an observer at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). The forum is one of the most important international organizations in the Pacific region, made up of 18 member states, including Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan’s Pacific allies, associate members and observers, along with “dialogue partners” such as the US, Japan, Canada and the EU. The 53rd edition of the forum opened in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, yesterday. Taiwan has been taking part in the forum and related events as a “developmental partner” under the name Taiwan / Republic of