Mudslides and falling rocks in northern Taiwan were reported yesterday. There were no casualties.
According to the Keelung City Fire Department, a house near Bisha Harbor (碧砂港) on Keelung’s Beining Road was reported to have started to slant toward the main road after a mudslide around 4:30pm. Soon after, the entire house collapsed onto the road. Both female residents in the house were able to escape.
The bureau’s preliminary analysis on the cause of the mudslide was that the dirt on the hills overlooking the road had grown too soft with rain these past days and was unable to sustain the weight of the house, causing it to collapse.
Photo: Taipei Times
Also on Beining Road, a large boulder yesterday crashed down onto the road going out of Keelung City toward New Taipei City’s (新北市) Ruifang District (瑞芳) narrowly missing a white sedan. The passing sedan had been pushed out of the way due to the mudslide. The driver was unhurt.
The heavy rain also caused flooding in several areas in Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung yesterday. The Central Weather Bureau has warned of heavy to torrential rain along the northern coastal areas including Sanjhih (三芝), Shihmen (石門), Tamsui (淡水), Ruifang, Gongliao (貢寮) and Shuangsi (雙溪) districts in New Taipei City.
Photo: Taipei Times
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
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