Taiwan’s coast guard said it intercepted the Togolese-flagged cargo ship Hongtai early on Tuesday (Image: Taiwan Coast Guard)
is investigating a Chinese-crewed ship suspected of severing an undersea cable which authorities say could be a “grey-zone incursion” by Beijing.
The Togolese-flagged cargo ship Hongtai was intercepted in waters between Taiwan’s main island and the Penghu Islands, ’s coast guard said in a statement, after being informed that an undersea communications cable had been severed.
The coastguard said the Hongtai had been anchored in that same area since Saturday evening, and over that time, authorities had sent signals to the vessel seven times but received no response.
According to Taiwanese authorities, all eight people on board the ship were Chinese nationals, and the case was being handled “in accordance with national security-level principles”.
The coastguard said: “The cause of the underwater cable break, whether it was due to intentional sabotage or simply an accident, is still pending further investigation for clarification.
[TAIWAN]
“The possibility of this being part of a grey-zone incursion by China cannot be ruled out.”
Grey-zone can be defined as hostile activities that fall below the threshold of armed conflicts – cyberattacks are one example.
Communications were not disrupted in the incident because a backup cable was successfully activated.
DON’T MISS [CHINA] [TAIWAN] [TAIWAN]
This is the latest in a in recent years in which Taiwanese cables have been damaged, some of which Taipei has blamed on Beijing.
fears China might damage its underwater communications cables as part of attempts to blockade or seize the island, which Beijing claims as its own.
During a routine press briefing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said he was not aware of the incident.
There have also been a series of incidents where key underwater infrastructure has been damaged in Europe – many have been blamed on .
The recently tracked a Russian spy ship in what was the second time it had entered British waters in recent months.
Defence Secretary John Healey said
He said he ordered a attack submarine to surface close to the Yantir in a rare warning to the Russian ship which then left UK waters “without further loitering”.