Taiwan detains ship and Chinese crew after undersea cable severed

Coast guard declares incident national-security matter and possible case of Chinese sabotage.

Taiwanese coast guard vessels on Tuesday prepared to board a cargo ship suspected of severing an undersea cable. Picture: Handout / Taiwan Coast Guard/AFP

Taiwan detained a cargo ship and its eight Chinese crew members after an undersea fiber-optic cable was severed, in a stepped-up effort to police such incidents, which are often seen as part of China’s pressure campaign targeting the self-ruled island.

Taiwan’s coast guard said the incident was being handled as a national security matter and that deliberate sabotage hadn’t been ruled out. A string of such episodes have called attention to Taiwan’s vulnerability as it works to ensure that it has secure internet services to keep the island online in the event of an invasion or blockade by China.

Similar incidents elsewhere, including the cutting of data cables beneath the Baltic Sea, have brought global attention to security concerns surrounding the critical infrastructure.

Taiwan’s coast guard said it spotted the Togo-flagged cargo vessel in the area on Saturday evening. When it dropped anchor around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the coast guard directed the ship to move away.

Within less than an hour, telecommunications provider Chunghwa Telecom reported that one of the undersea communications cables connecting Taiwan to its outlying islands and to nearby countries appeared to have been damaged by external forces. Internet services were largely unaffected, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said.

The coast guard escorted the vessel, identified as the Hong Tai, to a Taiwanese port for investigation.

China is engaged in a long-running campaign to pressure the people and leadership of Taiwan to give up their commitment to self-rule of the island, which is claimed by Beijing as its territory.

Taiwan’s coast guard said that the ship was provisionally registered, crewed by Chinese nationals and backed by Chinese capital. “The possibility of China conducting grey zone harassment can’t be ruled out, ” the coast guard said. In the past China has used tactics ranging from military drills that simulate a blockade of the island to cyberattacks and social-media campaigns, Taiwan authorities say.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, when asked about the incident, said he wasn’t familiar with the situation. “It isn’t a diplomatic issue,” he said.

After a similar incident in January, when a delayed response prevented the apprehension of a ship suspected of cutting cables, authorities on the island began looking for new approaches to police such incidents, including deploying coast guard vessels more quickly once a service disruption warning is issued.

The coast guard has since stepped up its efforts to protect cables and disperse vessels, according to Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, which oversees the coast guard. A Taiwanese-flagged vessel was detained on Feb. 16 on suspicion of cutting internet cables, Kuan said in a Facebook post Tuesday.

Taiwan’s navy will work closely with the coast guard to monitor suspected ships and deploy when needed, Defense Minister Wellington Koo said. The Ministry of National Defense also laid out plans to establish what it calls key monitoring areas and create a database of suspicious vessels.

The Wall Street Journal