Taipei, Taiwan\/Hong Kong
\n CNN
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n When a Taiwanese telecoms company detected that an international undersea cable was damaged earlier this month, it worked to divert internet traffic from the broken line to keep customers on the island<\/a> connected.\n <\/p>\n \n But the company, Chunghwa Telecom, also went to Taiwan\u2019s Coast Guard to report the incident \u2013 and a \u201csuspicious vessel\u201d observed on the same route as the affected cable, according to a statement from the company, a major local internet provider.\n <\/p>\n \n Taiwan Coast Guard officials in the days since have said they suspect that the Shunxin39 \u2013 a Chinese-linked cargo vessel \u2013 could have cut the cable, in an incident that has spotlighted the island\u2019s growing concerns about vulnerabilities that could be exploited by Beijing<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Taiwan officials have not cited direct evidence that the ship damaged the cable, and the Taiwan Coast Guard said in a statement Monday that it could not determine the vessel\u2019s intentions. It called for South Korea, the ship\u2019s destination, to help with further investigation.\n <\/p>\n \n But the situation has raised concerns among Taiwanese authorities of potential \u201cgray zone operations,\u201d or acts that fall below the threshold of war<\/a> \u2013 in particular those that could hamper the island\u2019s internet and communications with the outside world.\n <\/p>\n \n Those concerns come as Taiwan has faced increasing intimidation<\/a> from Beijing, which claims the self-ruled democracy as its own territory and has vowed to take control of it, by force if necessary.\n <\/p>\n \n They also follow a string of incidents in recent years of damage to undersea infrastructure worldwide, including communications cables. Two high-profile incidents in the Baltic Sea involved Chinese ships and remain under investigation.\n <\/p>\n \n Taiwan\u2019s Coast Guard said in a statement Monday that the ship suspected of damaging the cable off its northeastern coast last Friday was a Cameroon- and Tanzania-flagged vessel, crewed by seven Chinese nationals.\n <\/p>\n \n The vessel is owned by Hong Kong company Jie Yang Trading Limited, which is directed by a Chinese national, a senior Coast Guard official confirmed separately to CNN. While there was no direct evidence the vessel sabotaged the submarine cable, radar showed the vessel passed by when the cable was cut, the official said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAs of now we cannot ascertain its real intentions, but based on what we see so far, we won\u2019t rule out the possibility of China destroying the cable through \u2018gray zone operations,\u2019\u201d the senior official told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n Such an act could be part of Beijing-backed efforts to use \u201cships with flags of convenience to cut Taiwan\u2019s international communication as a form of preparation for future blockade and quarantine,\u201d according to the official.\n <\/p>\n \n Beijing\u2019s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday that submarine cable damage is a \u201ccommon maritime incident,\u201d and balked at Taipei\u2019s \u201cconjecturing\u201d and \u201cdeliberate framing of gray zone threats.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Two independent analysts told CNN that tracking data on the Shunxin39 showed atypical behavior for a cargo vessel, describing a meandering or erratic path. The ship was also found to be using two different positioning system numbers, according to the Taiwan Coast Guard, which is also seen by experts as unusual for standard cargo operations.\n <\/p>\n \n Chinese national Guo Wenjie, director of the company operating the vessel, denied in a statement to news agency Reuters on Wednesday that the ship was responsible for the damage.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere\u2019s no evidence at all,\u201d he told Reuters<\/a> by telephone. \u201cI spoke to the ship captain and for us it was a normal trip.\u201d CNN was unable to independently reach Guo, but public records list him as the sole shareholder of Jie Yang Trading Limited.\n <\/p>\n \n In 2023, Taiwanese authorities blamed two Chinese ships for damaging two submarine internet cables linked to Taiwan\u2019s outlying island of Matsu in incidents days apart causing an internet blackout, but stopped short of saying they were deliberate acts.\n <\/p>\n \n Su Tzu-yun, a military expert at Taiwan\u2019s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said more evidence is needed to say whether the latest incident was intentional.\n <\/p>\n \n But he said Taiwan needs to bolster maritime surveillance and defense of submarine cables.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cOnce submarine cables are sabotaged, Taiwan\u2019s connectivity to the international community will be severed; we can then only rely on bandwidth provided by satellites, which would then affect our digital economy, international trade and banking,\u201d he said, calling such potential sabotage a form of \u201cpsychological warfare.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Other observers have suggested the recent incident could be part of a trial of such tactics.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhile it doesn\u2019t look to me like part of an effort to seriously impede Taiwan\u2019s connectivity with the world \u2026 it could be consistent with either a campaign to apply low-level harassment, or as a test run for something that could be done at a larger scale at a later date in conjunction with other coercive operations,\u201d said Tom Shugart, a retired US Navy captain and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington.\n <\/p>\n \n Taiwan has seen a surge of Chinese military activities in the Taiwan Strait and the Western Pacific in recent months, in line with a ramping up of intimidation over the past few years. Chinese naval and coast guard vessels have plied regional waters, and there has been an increase in Chinese aircraft operating around the island.\n <\/p>\n \n But Taiwan officials and defense experts have increasingly focused on the potential for Beijing to use gray zone tactics and non-military actors<\/a> like China Coast Guard and various police and maritime safety agencies \u2013 as well as a so-called maritime militia<\/a> of civilian ships \u2013 to quarantine the island or play a role in a blockade if it wanted to move to take control.\n <\/p>\n \n In a first-of-its kind \u201ctabletop\u201d exercise simulating military escalations by China late last month, multiple government agencies were tasked with responding to a broader base of threats than an armed invasion, including information warfare.\n <\/p>\n \n One official highlighted then how government agencies struggled to clarify falsehoods during electricity or internet outages, highlighting the need for Taiwan to have a backup mechanism to ensure the flow of information.\n <\/p>\n \n Taiwan\u2019s Ministry of Digital Affairs earlier this week said it has been working on initiatives aimed at strengthening Taiwan\u2019s communications by exploring alternative internet options including low-Earth-orbit satellites and adding new submarine cable stations.\n <\/p>\n \n Last month, Taiwan\u2019s tech tzar Wu Cheng-wen told reporters in a briefing that in addition to working with LEO satellite company OneWeb, the island is also in talks with Amazon\u2019s Project Kuiper for satellite collaborations.\n <\/p>\n \n Those efforts may only appear more urgent to observers amid a spate of incidents where Chinese and Russian vessels have come under scrutiny.\n <\/p>\n \n Swedish police have sought to investigate the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3<\/a> in relation to its possible role in the breach of two undersea fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea in November. The incident had echoes of a 2023 case in which Chinese ship NewNew Polar Bear was suspected of damaging undersea cables as well as a gas pipeline in the Baltic.\n <\/p>\n \n Finnish investigators late last month seized a tanker carrying Russian oil and said they suspected the vessel had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line<\/a> and several internet cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.\n <\/p>\n