Taiwan detains Chinese-crewed ship suspected in subsea cable severing

A Chinese cargo ship was detained by Taiwan on Tuesday after a subsea telecoms cable was severed near the self-ruled island.

According to the Coast Guard, a submarine communications cable between Taiwan and Penghu was cut on Tuesday morning, and a Togolese-flagged ship "Hong tai" with a Chinese owner and crew is suspected to be responsible.

In a press statement, the Coast Guard said that the ship was "escorted" back to Taiwan and the case was being "handled in accordance with national security-level principles".

It further read that it was unclear if the incident was intentional, though it has not ruled out the possibility it was a “Chinese grey zone intrusion operation.”

Communication breakdown

Chunghwa Telecom notified the Coast Guard that the cable had been cut at around 2:30 am on Tuesday and requested an investigation, the press release said.

Communications on the outlying Penghu Islands were not affected as a backup cable was activated.

The Hong tai, using a flag of convenience, was crewed by eight Chinese nationals and had Chinese funding, the coast guard said.

Flags of convenience allow shipping companies to register their vessels in countries to which they have no link — for a fee and freedom from oversight.

According to AP, during a regular press briefing on Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that he was not aware of the issue and it did not pertain to diplomacy.

Beijing says Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control, while Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt to seize the island or blockade it.

Troubled waters

Taiwan has 14 international underwater cables and 10 domestic ones.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs ordered Chunghwa Telecom to transfer voice communications and internet services for Penghu to other undersea cables.

The world's data and communications are carried across oceans by great bundles of subsea fibre optic cables — with their high strategic value making them potential targets for attack.

There is growing concern in Taiwan over the security of its cables after a Chinese-owned cargo ship was suspected of severing one northeast of the island this year.

Separately, two ageing subsea cables serving Taiwan’s Matsu archipelago stopped functioning last month, with the outages blamed on "natural deterioration".

In February 2023, two subsea telecoms lines serving Matsu were cut within days of each other, disrupting communications for weeks. Locals and Taipei officials suspected that Chinese fishing vessels or sand dredgers, which often drop anchor or scrape the seabed in Taiwanese waters, may have been responsible.

The Taiwanese Coast Guard identified last month 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience from Mongolia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Togo, and Sierra Leone for close monitoring.