Shafaq News- Taipei/ Beijing

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Saturday rejected China’s traffic controls on northbound vessels entering the Taiwan Strait during Typhoon Dolphin, stating that Beijing had no right to impose restrictions on Taiwan’s waters.

China’s Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration ordered vessels entering the strait from the south to follow traffic-control measures and maritime instructions as the storm approached. MAC argued that the move violated international norms, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard separately instructed merchant and cargo vessels to disregard Chinese broadcast demands and report any interference, stating that it had detected no abnormal vessel movements.

Typhoon Dolphin was moving northwest toward China after lashing Japan’s Okinawa prefecture. China expects the storm to make landfall between late Sunday and early Monday, most likely between Zhoushan in Zhejiang province and Fuding in Fujian province.

Zhejiang raised its coastal typhoon alert to the highest level, halted port operations and suspended 162 passenger ferry routes, while forecasters warned that parts of eastern Zhejiang could receive more than 600 millimeters of rain.

The typhoon injured five people and cut power to about 14,000 buildings in Japan’s Okinawa, while 63 international flights were cancelled in Taiwan.