A vessel allegedly linked to a Hong Kong-registered company was in the area when damage to telecoms cable reportedly occurred
Taiwan suspects that a vessel linked to mainland China has damaged an undersea internet cable off the island’s northern coast, according to local media reports and the Financial Times (FT).
The Coast Guard of the self-governed Chinese territory reported on Saturday that the cable connecting China and other East Asian nations to the United States via the Pacific Ocean seabed had been damaged on Friday off the coast of the port of Keelung.
The damage “was caused by the Cameroonian-registered cargo ship “SHUNXIN39” passing through the waters,” the Coast Guard statement reads.
Although the ship sails under Cameroon’s flag, it is owned by Jie Yang Trading Limited, a Hong Kong-registered company whose director is a citizen of mainland China, the FT has reported, citing Taiwanese officials.
Coast Guard officers were unable to board the ship due to rough weather, or to detain it. The vessel was ordered to return to waters in the vicinity of the Port of Keelung for investigation, the statement said.
According to the FT, the ship was then instructed to head to South Korea, with Taipei asking Seoul for assistance in investigating SHUNXIN39.
The Trans-Pacific Express is a submarine telecommunications cable linking China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States. Taiwanese service provider Chunghwa Telecom, which is part of an international consortium that owns the cable, said it was able to reroute traffic and that service had continued uninterrupted.
Beijing has not yet commented on the matter.
Taiwan has experienced numerous incidents of damage sustained by its underwater telecom cables in recent years, without being able to definitively identify the source of the presumed attacks, Politico noted on Sunday.
Taipei is concerned that Beijing could covertly cut Taiwan’s external communications links in any potential attempt at reunification, the FT report noted.
Self-rule was established in Taiwan by nationalist forces after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Only a handful of nations currently recognize the island’s sovereignty, with most of the world, including Russia, seeing it as part of the People’s Republic.
The US officially recognizes Taiwan as part of China, though at the same time it engages in military cooperation with the government in Taipei. Last month, US President Joe Biden authorized $571 million in arms and supplies for the self-governing island.
Chinese President Xi Jinping recently said that no one could stop the historical trend of national reunification. Beijing held large-scale military drills around the island in October. The government in Taipei has claimed that Beijing will never “renounce the use of force” against it.
Beijing prefers a peaceful reunification with Taipei, Chinese ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui said in an interview last week. The sentiment was previously expressed by Xi Jinping.