Taiwan accused a Chinese ship of cutting a vital data cable off its northern coast on Friday.
Earlier on January 3, Taipei officials discovered that four core wires of an international submarine cable transmitting data to AT&T in the United States had ruptured.
According to the Taiwan Coast Guard, tracking data showed that the Shun Hing 39 cargo ship had anchored near the rupture site near Keelung Port.
Chinese ships have previously been accused of deliberately damaging critical maritime cables in the Baltic Sea in October 2023 and November 2024.
The Shun Hing 39 flies the Cameroonian flag, but Taiwanese officials pointed out that the owner of the ship is Jieyang Trading Co., Ltd. registered in Hong Kong and the owner is Chinese citizen Guo Wenjie.
Chunghwa Telecom said vital connections were restored immediately after it moved data to other undersea cables on Friday morning.
However, Taiwan remains concerned that Beijing could target critical maritime infrastructure in any attempt to annex the island, located off China’s southeastern coast.
Beijing claims Taiwan is Chinese and has said it would prefer to integrate the island through diplomacy but has not ruled out the use of force.
On December 9, a member of the Taiwan Coast Guard monitored a Chinese Coast Guard ship. Agency, Getty Images
A Taiwan Coast Guard member watches a Chinese vessel during an incident in early December – Taiwan Coast Guard/AFP via Getty Images
A Taiwan Coast Guard official said that because Taipei was unable to question the ship’s captain, it had sought assistance from South Korea, where the Shun Hing 39 was located.
A Coast Guard vessel conducted an exterior inspection of the ship on Friday, but officials were unable to board due to bad weather.
A senior national security official in Taiwan told the Financial Times: “This is another example of a very worrying global trend of damaging undersea cables.”
The ship is expected to arrive at the port of Busan, South Korea, in the coming days.
Another Chinese ship, the Yipeng 3, was accused of similar practices in the Baltic Sea last November.
Investigators believe the Chinese-registered bulk carrier dragged its anchor more than 100 miles along the seafloor and deliberately severed two critical cables in a “sabotage” orchestrated by Russia.
The repeated incidents have raised concerns in the West that Russia, with help from China, is engaging in what the White House calls a “hybrid war”, a charge the Kremlin denies.
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