Tropical storm Bilis is expected to become the fourth typhoon to hit China this year, with forecasts that it will make landfall in Taiwan Province on Friday and in the southeastern province of Fujian on Saturday.

As of 2:00 PM Tuesday, the eye of Bilis was located about 1,200 kilometers southeast of Xiamen City, Fujian Province, the city's observatory forecast Tuesday.

The storm, expected to evolve into a typhoon within 48 hours, had been moving northwestwards at around 15 km per hour to the offshore areas east of Taiwan, packing winds of 102 km per hour.

Bilis, which formed in the western Pacific Ocean on July 9, will bring temperatures up to 37 degrees Celsius to Xiamen in the next two days and heavy rains to the coast of southern Guangdong Province.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2006)