Another cable severed off Taiwan

Taiwan’s coast guard detained a cargo ship and its Chinese crew on Tuesday. The vessel is suspected of damaging the cable connecting Taiwan to its outlying Penghu Islands, Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement. 

The Togo-flagged Hongtai58 and its eight Chinese crewmembers have been taken to the port of Anping as investigations get underway in the latest cable cutting incident to hit the island. 

Taiwan blacklisted 52 Chinese-owned ships last month that operate under flags of convenience in the wake of the severing of another subsea communications cable. Taiwan’s National Coast Guard Administration identified a Cameroon-registered cargo ship, Shunxin 39, as the suspect in the incident.

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau has said ships which have previously been found to misreport information will be put on a list of ships for priority inspection at ports.

Moreover, if these ships enter within 24 nautical miles of Taiwan’s coast and are close to where undersea cables are, the coast guard will be dispatched to board them and investigate.

According to data provider Windward, the frequency of underwater infrastructure sabotage has increased from just two incidents in 2000 to 75 incidents in 2024 with the seas around Taiwan as well as the Baltic becoming hotspots for ships deliberately dragging anchors to take out critical subsea infrastructure.