FEARS are mounting over potential Chinese sabotage after a deep sea cable was reportedly sliced off near the Taiwanese coast.
Tensions in the region could boil over in 2025 with China’s president Xi Jinping vowing to “reunify” with Taiwan as he continues to stage harrowing military exercises in the nearby waters.
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Cable cutting on ships has already sparked global concerns following a similar incident that saw a Russian ship allegedly cut a key Finish power cable with its anchor.
The incident in Taiwan saw a telecommunications cable damaged off the coast of Yehliu, New Taipei City in the early hours of January 3.
It was first reported by Taiwanese telecoms operator Chunghwa Telecom who later got the national Coast Guard involved to help investigate.
They discovered that four cores of the international submarine cable had been left mangled.
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Officials believe the cable was caught near to the busy port of Keelung on Taiwan’s north coast.
A Cameroon-registered cargo ship known as the Shunxin 39 has been blamed for causing the damage, according to Taiwan’s National Coast Guard Administration.
Tracking data from the ship’s automatic identification system signal and satellite data showed the Shunxing 39 dragged its anchor near to the where the cable was ruptured.
Officers hunted down the suspected culprit and ordered it to return to the water around the Port of Keelung.
The Coast Guard then inspected the outside of the ship and hasd a brief conversation with the captain, the Financial Times reports.
But officials couldn’t step on board it due to rough weather.
They were also forced to allow the vessel to leave for South Korea as they couldn’t hold it any longer under international law, officials said.
Despite the ship sailing under a Cameroonian flag, Taiwan officials claim it is actually owned by China.
It is believed to have been purchased by Jie Yang Trading Limited who are registered in Hong Kong.
The company’s only listed director is a mainland Chinese man called Guo Wenjie, officials added.
This link to the enemy sparked concerns for the Taiwanese authorities who are concerned this could be the start of secret operations to cut off external communications.
This is another case of a very worrying global trend of sabotage against subsea cables
Senior Taiwanese national security official
This could lead to the country being separated from the rest of the world and vulnerable to Chinese attacks.
Beijing has constantly claimed sovereignty over the island has spent the past few months threatening to seize it by any means necessary.
A senior Taiwanese national security official said: “This is another case of a very worrying global trend of sabotage against subsea cables.
“The ships that are involved in these incidents are typically rundown vessels that have little above-the-board business.
“This one, too, is in very bad shape. It is similar to the ships that are part of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’.”
Taiwan has now called on help from South Korea to help track down the Shunxin 39 after it headed towards the country at the start of January.
A separate Coast Guard official said: “Since it was not possible for us to question the captain, we have asked the South Korean authorities to help with the investigation at the ship’s next port of destination.”
Why does China want to invade Taiwan?
TAIWAN insists it is an independent nation after splitting from mainland China amid civil war in 1949.
But China claims Taiwan remains a part of its territory with which it must eventually be reunified – and has not ruled out the use of force to take the island and place it under Beijing’s control.
The island, which is roughly 100 miles from the coast of south-east China, sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own constitution and democratically-elected leaders.
Taiwan sits in the so-called “first island chain”, which includes a list of US-friendly territories that are crucial to Washington’s foreign policy in the region.
This also puts it in an ideal situation to slow a Chinese attack on the West.
And with tensions between the two nations high, Taiwan is likely to aid China’s enemy if it means keeping its independence.
Taiwan’s economy is another factor in China’s desperation to reclaim the land.
If China takes the island, it could be freer to project power in the western Pacific and rival the US, thanks to much of the world’s electronics being made in Taiwan.
This would allow Beijing to have control over an industry that drives the global economy.
China insists that its intentions are peaceful, but President Xi Jinping has also used threats towards the small island nation.
Chunghwa Telecom said the broken data connections were immediately fixed by rerouting data to other international subsea cables.
The internet cable connected Taiwan with the US west coast and is owned by an international consortium which also involves AT&T, Japan’s NTT, Korea Telecom and Chinese operators China Telecom and China Unicom.
At the end of last year a Chinese bulk carrier was placed under investigation by Swedish authorities after two fibre-optic cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged.
Investigators quickly suspected the Yi Peng 3 was responsible after tracking data showed it leaving the Russian port of Ust-Luga on November 15.
It comes as Russia has also become embroiled in accusations of cable tampering.
A Moscow-linked ship was accused of being involved in damaging undersea cables recently.
A shadowy Russian vessel sabotaged a key power cable by dragging its anchor on the seabed for dozens of miles, Finnish authorities feared a few days ago.
The Estlink 2 power cable in the Gulf of Finland was ruptured along with four other communication lines in the suspected deliberate act of vandalism.
Officials believe the ship was a 751ft Eagle S part of Russia’s “shadow” or “dark” fleet operated by Putin to evade sanctions.
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