The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday announced the formation of Tropical Storm Etau, adding that it was moving toward Japan and was not expected to affect Taiwan.
However, National Central University Department of Atmospheric Sciences professor Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said the nation should carefully monitor the atmospheric systems on Guam’s east coast, as a tropical storm could form in that area.
“We still do not know if a typhoon or a tropical storm will be formed in this area, nor do we know if such a typhoon, once formed, would hit Taiwan,” Wu said. “There is no reason to panic about such a possibility at this point, as long as we pay attention to the region.”
Data from the bureau showed that there is currently one typhoon in the northwest Pacific, as well as one tropical storm.
As of press time last night, the center of Typhoon Kilo was 4,290km east of Taipei. The 250km-radius typhoon was moving west-northwest at 15kph.
The center of Tropical Storm Etau, which formed yesterday at 2am, was 1,720km east of Taipei. The storm, which has a radius of 120km, was moving northnorthwest at 21kph.
Wu said that Etau is forecast to start moving northwest tomorrow due to Kilo’s approach, increasing the possibility of Etau directly hitting Japan’s Honshu and Shikoku islands.
Whether Etau would hit the two islands would require further observation, he added.
Etau is expected to slowly increase in strength because of low ocean heat surrounding the storm, Wu said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard