Chinese vessel suspected of damaging undersea cable near Taiwan

Taiwan is investigating a Chinese-owned ship suspected of severing an undersea fiber-optic cable north of the island. While the incident caused minimal disruption to internet services, analysts say it reflects the vulnerability of Taiwan and its undersea infrastructure in the event of a Chinese military attack or blockade. 


“It’s a vulnerability shared by a lot of countries in a globalized world,” said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and a former Pentagon official. 


“The real challenge for Taiwan is how do they increase their resilience now [that] there is growing awareness that they could be intentionally held vulnerable through direct attacks that are difficult to attribute to a particular actor,” he told VOA by phone. 


Taiwan’s government-run telecommunications operator Chunghwa Telecom received a warning about damage to a subsea cable near the Keelung Harbor in northern Taiwan Friday morning.


Chunghwa Telecom said the disruption, which didn’t affect internet service across the island, may have been caused by a vessel dragging its anchor along the seabed where the undersea cable is located. 


Within hours, Taiwan’s coast guard dispatched a ship and found the Cameroon-flagged vessel Shunxin-39 in waters north of Taiwan. Taiwanese authorities ordered the ship to return to waters off Keelung Harbor for inspection but failed to board the ship due to rough weather conditions. 


Taipei has sought assistance from South Korea to investigate the ship, which is sailing toward the South Korean city of Busan. The Taiwanese coast guard said in a statement shared with VOA that the ship is owned by a Hong Kong company headed by a Chinese national. The seven crew members on board are Chinese nationals. 


In addition to carrying a Cameroon flag, Taiwanese authorities said the ship was also registered in Tanzania and seemed to operate under two sets of Automatic Identification System equipment, which shows the vessel’s basic information and coordinates. 


The coast guard said while the Chinese vessel’s intention remains unclear, the incident could be part of China’s gray zone operations that aim to exert pressure on Taiwan through irregular tactics short of combat. 


China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has repeatedly vowed to reunify with the island, with force if necessary. China has increased the frequency of its gray zone operations around Taiwan in recent years, regularly deploying military aircraft, naval vessels, and coast guard ships to airspaces and waters near Taiwan. 


Ray Powell, director of Stanford University’s Sealight project, which tracks Chinese maritime activities across the Indo-Pacific region, told VOA that the Chinese vessel has been operating between in waters near Taiwan’s Keelung Harbor, South Korea’s Busan and along the Chinese coast under two different names, two different flags, and six different identification numbers over the last six months. 


“Having at least six different registration numbers indicates this ship is devoted to being off-grid or hard to track,” he said in a phone interview. 


Powell said the vessel may be conducting a gray zone operation against Taiwan’s key infrastructure in the region. 


“The reason we would classify the incident as a potential gray zone activity is because it’s hidden behind a private company based out of Hong Kong with an owner in China and flags of African countries, which keep the Chinese government from the vessel’s activities,” he told VOA. 


The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., told VOA in a written response that it is unaware of the severing of the undersea cable near northern Taiwan, adding that Beijing “has always welcomed and supported other countries and telecommunications companies laying international submarine cables in waters under China’s jurisdiction.” 


The incident comes amid a growing number of damages to undersea cables and pipelines caused by Chinese and Russian vessels in the Baltic Sea since 2023.




It is also not the first time a Chinese vessel has been suspected of cutting undersea cables near Taiwan. In February 2023, Taiwanese authorities found evidence that two Chinese ships cut two internet cables near Taiwan’s outlying island of Matsu, causing a month-long internet outage on the tiny island.


Since then, Taiwan has poured more resources into preparing for potential internet outages caused by damage to undersea cables. Last October, Chunghwa Telecom announced that signals from low-earth orbit satellites should cover the entire island. It was part of the efforts to reduce Taiwan’s dependence on undersea cables for external communication.


During the first tabletop military exercise held by Taiwan’s presidential office last month, response to internet blackouts caused by damage to undersea cables was one of the scenarios simulated by top Taiwanese officials. 


While Chunghwa Telecom said the cable will be fixed later this month, Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has vowed to secure more funding to help the telecom operator build more facilities to increase the island’s connection to international undersea cables.


Some Taiwanese lawmakers also urged the coast guard to strengthen its capabilities to monitor activities in areas concentrated with undersea cables and update protocols in case similar incidents happen in the future. 


Some analysts say the coast guard needs to enhance its capabilities to address challenges posed by China, which have become more frequent in recent years. 


That includes monitoring “irregular activities conducted by fishing or commercial vessels in waters near Taiwan’s undersea cables,” said Shen Ming-shih, a defense analyst at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research. 


He told VOA in a phone interview that Taiwan should also enhance its efficiency in repairing “damaged undersea cables within the shortest amount of time.”