China-linked ship detained in Taiwan for allegedly cutting undersea cable

Taiwanese authorities announced on Tuesday the arrest of a cargo ship with links to China, for allegedly cutting one of the submarine cables that connect the main island of Taiwan to the Pescadores archipelago.

In a statement, the Taiwan Coast Guard (CGA) said the ship involved, named Hong Tai, was flagged in Togo and registered as a “vessel of convenience with connections to the Chinese capital”.

Flag of convenience ships are those that operate under a flag other than that of their owners' country, which is sometimes interpreted as an indication of illicit or illegal activities.

“The eight crew members on board are Chinese nationals. The possibility that the incident is related to ‘grey zone’ actions [aggressive actions by a state but not engaging in open warfare] by China is not excluded,” the CGA said, adding that it is still investigating whether the cutting of the submarine cable “was intentional or an accident”.

The incident occurred at around 3:00 am today (7:00 pm Monday in Lisbon), when the CGA received a report from Chungwha Telecom, Taiwan's largest telecommunications company, indicating that the third submarine line connecting Taiwan to Pescadores (or Penghu in Chinese) had broken about six nautical miles (11.1 kilometers) northwest of the port of Jiangjun, in the south of the island.

According to the CGA, the Hong Tai was anchored in this same position, located just 0.5 nautical miles north of the route of the third submarine cable, since 7:10 pm (11:10 am in Lisbon) on February 22.

“During this period, the Coast Guard monitored the situation and issued seven warnings through the Anping Port Signal Station [southern Taiwan], but no response was received,” the official statement said.

After receiving Chungwha Telecom’s preliminary assessment of possible “external damage” to the cable, the Coast Guard proceeded to intercept the Hong Tai, an operation that required the cooperation of three vessels.

The freighter bore the name Hong Tai 168 on its hull, but the automatic identification system indicated the name Hong Tai 58.

“After coordination with the Maritime and Port Office, the ship was successfully escorted to the port of Anping at 12:15” today (04:15, in Lisbon), concluded the CGA statement.

The island authorities considered that the cuts to the submarine cables are part of the activities of the Chinese “grey zone” aimed at putting pressure on the Taiwan government, currently led by William Lai Ching-te, considered an “independenceist” and an “agitator” by the authorities in Beijing.