Taiwan points to China in undersea cable disruption
The telecommunications cable connecting Taiwan to the mainland has been cut. Due to bad weather, a suspected vessel—a tanker under the Cameroonian flag—could not be detained and continued its journey to South Korea. Taipei suspects China is involved.
Taiwan suspects that China is behind the cutting of the international undersea telecommunications cable on Friday morning, reports Politico. According to Taiwanese media, the cargo ship Shunxin-39, registered in Cameroon, was intercepted by the country's coast guard about 13 kilometres from Taiwan's northern coast on Friday afternoon and was ordered to return closer to shore for investigation.
However, bad weather prevented the authorities from boarding the vessel, and Shunxin-39 continued its voyage to the port in South Korea. Taiwanese authorities reported that although Shunxin-39 is registered in Cameroon, it belongs to Jie Yang Trading Limited from Hong Kong, owned by Guo Wenjie, a Chinese citizen.
Chunghwa Telecom, being part of the international consortium that owns the cable, reported that it managed to redirect telecommunications traffic to other cables, and services are continuing without disruption. The Trans-Pacific Express cable, valued at 672 million Canadian dollars, has been connecting East Asian countries with the western coast of the United States since 2008.
Taiwan has experienced dozens of incidents of damage to its undersea telecommunications cables in recent years, unable to clearly identify the source of attacks and has sought help from the European Union.
Baltic scenario in the Far East
Attacks on cables in Taiwan follow the cutting of an undersea energy cable between Finland and Estonia during Christmas, for which Finland blames the Russian shadow fleet.
Incidents have multiplied since Russia's invasion of Ukraine three years ago. Politico reports that Beijing and Moscow are thus testing the West’s capacity and readiness to withstand hybrid forms of aggression.
Source: Politico
