Key Points
Vessel had been lingering near the cable since February 22 before severing it
Authorities investigating possible Chinese "grey zone operation" below threshold of war
Multiple suspicious undersea cable damages around Taiwan reported in recent years
Chunghwa Telecom expects repairs to be completed by May
Earlier today a Togolese-registered vessel was boarded and its Chinese crew detained by Taiwanese authorities after the country's Coast Guard received a report that the undersea cable had been severed, the Central News Agency of Taiwan reported.
The boat had been lingering near the cable since February 22, according to the CNA.
Suggesting that the Chinese Communist Party may have been ultimately responsible for recent cable disconnections, Presidential Office Spokesperson Lii Wen was cited by the Taiwanese news agency that Taiwan should also "cooperate and exchange experiences with international partners" to promote "non-red supply chains of communications technology."
The vessel suspected of damaging the cable connecting Taiwan to its outlying Penghu Islands carried a "flag of convenience" and was crewed by eight Chinese nationals, Taiwan's coast guard said in a statement.
A "flag of convenience" vessel is one that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership, as per a report in CNN.
Meanwhile, Chunghwa Telecom, the partially owned Taiwanese company stated that severing of the submarine communications cable linking Taiwan's main island and offshore Penghu County did not affect users, and the telecom link is expected to be repaired by May at the latest.
The Taiwanese coast guard said it intercepted and boarded the vessel before escorting it back to a port in the city of Tainan for an investigation.
As per the CNN report, the Taiwanese authorities said they could not rule out the possibility of a Chinese "grey zone operation," a coercive or subversive act that falls below the threshold of war.
"Whether it was an intentional act of sabotage or purely an accident needs to be further probed," the Coast Guard said in the statement, adding that the matter is now under investigation by prosecutors "in accordance with national security-level guidance."
In recent years, multiple undersea telecoms cables around Taiwan have suffered suspicious damage.
In January, Taiwanese authorities said a Chinese-linked cargo vessel could have cut an international undersea cable off the island's northern coast to cut its access to the internet.
In 2023, Taiwan officials blamed Chinese ships for two incidents in which cables connecting Taiwan's main island to its outlying islands of Matsu were 'deliberately' damaged, causing an internet blackout. This suspicious act again has raised concerns over the communication security of the island from mainland China.
