Taiwan suspects Hong Kong-owned ship of damaging subsea cable

TAIPEI: Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Hong Kong-owned cargo ship suspected of damaging a subsea telecoms cable northeast of the island, Taiwan’s coast guard said on Monday (Jan 6).

The Cameroon-flagged vessel was intercepted by the coast guard on Friday after Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom reported damage to a subsea cable.

The vessel, which is owned by a Hong Kong person and was crewed by seven Chinese nationals, was ordered to return to waters off Keelung port in northern Taiwan for inspection, the coast guard said in a statement.

But coast guard personnel were unable to board the ship due to rough seas and too much time had passed for the vessel to be held further, so it was allowed to sail for South Korea’s Busan port.

Taiwan has asked South Korean authorities for assistance in the investigation into the ship, which also sails under the Tanzanian flag with two sets of automatic identification system signals, the coast guard said.

“An analysis of the ship’s historical trajectory has yet to reveal its true intent,” the coast guard said.

“However, the possibility of a Chinese-flag of convenience ship engaging in grey-zone harassment cannot be ruled out,” it said, referring to tactics that fall short of an act of war.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

In recent years, Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taipei, which fears China could sever communication links to the island as part of an attempt to seize it.

Chunghwa’s telecoms service quickly returned to normal on Friday after it activated a back-up mechanism, the semi-official Central News Agency said.