Tropical Storm Songda formed at 2am yesterday, but whether it would become the second tropical storm to affect Taiwan this year remains to be seen, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
Songda, meaning “red tributary” in Vietnamese, was preceded earlier this month by Tropical Storm Aere, which brought rain to the nation’s east coast and Hengchun Peninsula.
At press time, the center of Songda was 940km off the southwest coast of Guam. It was moving northwesterly at 13kph. The bureau forecast that the storm would move into the sea areas off the east coast of the Philippines on Wednesday.
Bureau forecaster Lin Ding-yi (林定宜) said that while the storm was still very far from Taiwan, people should not underestimate its force.
“It [the storm] formed at sea,” he said. “The water vapor and heat it absorbs at sea will cause it to become stronger. The crucial time of observation would be on Wednesday or Thursday, when we can better determine if it will affect Taiwan.”
Nonetheless, Lin said that chances of rain were high nationwide tomorrow and Wednesday as another frontal system is forecast to arrive today.
Aside from showers, chances of heavy rain are also high in some regions while the frontal system lingers over the nation.
The bureau’s forecasts showed that temperature would be from 21℃ to 30℃ in the north, 23℃ to 31℃ in the central part of the country, 24℃ to 31℃ in the south and 22℃ to 30℃ in the east.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation
Taiwan and the US have begun trade negotiations over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump earlier this month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said in an interview this morning before reporting to the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the US, has already established communication channels with the US Department of State and the US Trade Representative (USTR), and is engaging in intensive consultations, he said. Points of negotiation include tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and issues related to investment, procurement and export controls, he
RSS