China rejects Taiwan's suspicions about communication cable failure

Taiwan and China have traded barbs over suspicions from Taipei authorities that a Chinese-linked ship damaged an underwater communications cable off Taiwan, Reuters reported.

Taiwan's coast guard said it had sent a ship to investigate a report on January 3 from telecommunications provider Chunghwa Telecom that a communications cable had been damaged off the island's northern coast, according to Reuters.

The Chinese and Taiwanese flags in this illustration taken on April 11, 2023

Upon arriving at the scene, Taiwan's coast guard discovered the Chinese-manned "Shunxin 39", registered in both Cameroon and Tanzania, and ordered the ship to return to port in Taiwan for investigation, according to Reuters.

In a statement, the Taiwan Coast Guard said it was unable to board the ship to verify due to bad weather, but that it “cannot rule out the possibility” that the ship was engaged in “gray zone” activities. However, it has not provided any direct evidence.

Meanwhile, the owner of the above ship confirmed to Reuters on January 8 that there was no evidence showing that the ship was involved in the damage to an underwater information cable off the coast of Taiwan.

By the end of January 8, mainland China's Taiwan Affairs Office said that the damage to the submarine cable was a "common maritime incident", and that Taiwan had made "groundless" accusations and deliberately hyped up "the so-called gray zone threat from the mainland".

Taiwan receives first 38 Abrams tanks from the US

In response to the statement, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said the case is under investigation and will proceed based on the evidence.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council also said that Taiwan had suffered damage in the case of submarine cables to the Kinmen and Matsu islands, territories located right next to the Chinese coast but controlled by Taiwan, according to Reuters.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trung-quoc-phan-bac-nghi-ngo-cua-dai-loan-ve-su-co-hong-cap-thong-tin-185250109100917551.htm