TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is seeking assistance from South Korean authorities in investigating a Chinese freighter suspected of damaging an undersea cable in the waters off the northeast coast.
According to Taiwan’s telecom provider Chunghwa Telecom and the Coast Guard Administration, the cable was reportedly damaged on Friday by the Cameroonian-flagged freighter, “Shunxing39,” northeast of New Taipei's Yehliu. Although the ship is registered in Cameroon, Taiwanese officials identified it as belonging to Jie Yang Trading Limited, a Hong Kong-registered company headed by Chinese national Guo Wenjie (郭文傑), per the Financial Times.
Chunghwa Telecom said that emergency backup mechanisms were activated immediately after the incident, rerouting traffic through other international submarine communications cables. The company said all customer services were quickly restored.
Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwanese government officials informed the Financial Times that the damaged cable is part of the Trans-Pacific Express Cable System, which links Taiwan to the US West Coast. The system is jointly owned by several telecom operators, including Chunghwa Telecom, AT&T, Japan’s NTT, Korea Telecom, China Telecom, and China Unicom.
A Taiwanese Coast Guard official told FT, “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.” A Taiwanese national security official said the vessel is expected to reach Busan in the coming days.
Government and Coast Guard officials revealed to FT that tracking data from the ship’s automatic identification system and satellite data indicate that Shunxing39 had been dragging its anchor at the cable's rupture site.
Although Coast Guard vessels conducted an external inspection of the ship and established radio contact with the captain, adverse weather conditions prevented boarding, said an official told FT. Furthermore, under international law, Taiwan could not detain the vessel for investigation because too much time had passed since the incident.
A senior Taiwanese national security official told FT, “This is another case of a very worrying global trend of sabotage against subsea cables.” The official said ships involved in such incidents are often poorly maintained and rarely engage in legitimate commercial activities.
The official said this vessel is in similarly poor repair and is comparable to those in Russia's “shadow fleet.”
According to ship-tracking data reviewed by the newspaper, Shunxing39 had been maneuvering erratically in waters near Taiwan’s northern coast since at least Dec. 8. The national security official pointed out that such navigation patterns suggest the cable damage was not an “innocent accident.”
Chinese merchant and fishing vessels frequently participate in large-scale military exercises around Taiwan organized by Beijing. Taipei is concerned that such "gray zone" operations, which fall short of open warfare, may complicate Taiwan's ability to counter an eventual escalation into a full-scale attack, per the Financial Times.
Taiwan prosecutors will investigate the ship's culpability for the incident and potential compensation for damage.
