Concerns rise over potential sabotage as a deep sea cable is damaged near Taiwan, raising tensions in the region.
Taipei: So, there’s been a bit of a scare in Taiwan. A deep sea cable got cut off the coast, and folks are worried it might be Chinese sabotage. This happened near Yehliu, New Taipei City, and it’s got everyone on edge.
The cable was damaged early on January 3, and the local telecom company, Chunghwa Telecom, was the first to sound the alarm. They called in the Coast Guard to check it out, and they found four mangled cores of the cable. Yikes!
Now, the ship that’s suspected of causing this mess is called the Shunxin 39, which is registered in Cameroon but has ties to China. Tracking data showed it dragged its anchor right where the cable was cut. Talk about bad luck!
Officials tried to inspect the ship, but rough weather made it tough to board. They had a quick chat with the captain, but couldn’t hold the ship under international law, so it sailed off to South Korea. It’s a real head-scratcher.
What’s got everyone worried is that this could be part of a bigger trend of sabotage against undersea cables. A senior Taiwanese official mentioned that these incidents usually involve rundown ships with shady business practices. Sounds fishy, right?
Taiwan is now asking South Korea for help in tracking down the Shunxin 39. They’re worried this could be a tactic to cut off their communications and leave them vulnerable to Chinese aggression.
With all the military exercises happening in the area and China’s claims over Taiwan, it’s a tense situation. Taiwan sees itself as independent, but China wants to bring it back under its control. The stakes are high, and this cable incident just adds fuel to the fire.
In the meantime, Chunghwa Telecom managed to reroute data through other cables, so the internet connections are back up and running. But the fear of future incidents looms large, especially with the global trend of cable sabotage becoming more common.
