Taiwan arrests Chinese ship because of suspicion of Sea cable
Taiwan arrests Chinese ship because of suspicion of Sea cable
The coast guard of Taiwans set a cargo ship and its Chinese crew on Tuesday and is now investigating whether the ship has deliberately damaged a submarine. This could be a further violation of the island's lines of communication.
suspicion of sabotage
The suspected ship that connects the cable with the distant PENNGHU Islands drove a "flag of convenience" and was occupied by eight Chinese nationals, explained the Taiwanese coast guard in a message .
The mysterious ship
The ship, which was called "Hong Tai", was registered with Chinese investments in Togo and had lingered near the cable off the coast of Taiwan since Saturday evening. It did not respond to several radio sayings of the Taiwanese coast guard, added the message.
examination and possible consequences
Shortly after the ship anchored on Tuesday morning, the Telekom company Chunghwa Telecom found that the cable had been separated. The coast guard intercepted and boarded the ship before it was brought back to the port of the city of Tainan to carry out further investigations.
The Taiwanese authorities said that they cannot rule out the possibility of “gray -zone surgery” China, a coercives or subversive action that is below the war threshold.
Investigations and national security
"Whether it is an intentional sabotage act or an unfortunate accident must be examined further," said the coast guard in its message, and added that the case is now being examined by the public prosecutors "according to the requirements for national security".
growing concern about communication security
In recent years, several submission telecommunications cables around Taiwan have suffered suspicious damage. In January, Taiwanese authorities reported that a cargo ship connected to China may have a could have damaged off the north coast of the island.
In 2023, Taiwanese officials blamed Chinese ships for two incidents, in which cables that were connected to the main island of Taiwans with the Matsu Islands were damaged, which led to an internet failure. However, they failed to identify the acts as intentionally.
geopolitical tensions
These incidents have triggered concern among the Taiwanese authorities that such “gray areas” activities could endanger the island's internet and communication lines to the outside world. This is done in the middle of increasing intimidation of Beijing, which claims the self -managed democracy of Taiwan as a own territory and has decided to take control of the island - if necessary also by violence.
The concerns also follow a number of incidents in recent years, in which the sub -Sea infrastructure has been damaged worldwide, including communication cables. Two top -class incidents in the Baltic Sea concerned Chinese ships and are still the subject of investigations.
The importance of Unsseischer cable
According to NATO boss Mark Rutte, over 95 % of internet traffic are transferred via Subsequent cables worldwide, with around 1.3 million kilometers of such cables estimate an estimated $ 10 trillion of international trade daily.
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