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HKFP
13-06-2025
- HKFP
Taiwan jails Chinese ship captain for deliberately severing subsea cable
A Chinese ship captain was sentenced to three years in a Taiwanese prison on Thursday for deliberately severing an undersea telecoms cable off the self-ruled island. The captain, surnamed Wang, and his Togolese-registered cargo ship Hongtai were detained in February after a cable linking the Penghu archipelago and Taiwan was reported cut. A district court in southern Taiwan found Wang guilty of violating the Telecommunications Management Act for destroying a submarine cable and jailed him for three years. The court said Wang had ordered two crew members to lower the Hongtai's anchor into waters off southwestern Taiwan where he would have known anchoring was prohibited because it could damage the subsea cable. The anchor's claw did not lodge in the seabed and the ship drifted. The cable had been 'completely severed' by the time Taiwan's coast guard intercepted the Hongtai and ordered the lifting of its anchor, the court said in the judgement. Wang admitted he had been negligent but denied 'intentional wrongdoing.' He can appeal against the sentence. The court said the evidence was sufficient to find Wang's 'criminal conduct established', adding that the punishment was 'a warning'. Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom spent more than NT$17 million (US$578,000) to repair the cable, the court said. Prosecutors had said Wang was the first Chinese ship captain charged with severing an undersea telecoms cable. The other seven crew members were to be deported without charge. Taiwan has 14 international underwater cables and 10 domestic ones. There have been a series of undersea cable breakages in recent years, with previous incidents blamed on natural deterioration of the wires or Chinese ships. The coast guard said previously the Hongtai was among 52 'suspicious' Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience from Mongolia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone highlighted for close monitoring.
CNA
12-06-2025
- CNA
Taiwan jails Chinese ship captain for severing subsea cable
TAIPEI: A Chinese ship captain was sentenced to three years in a Taiwanese prison on Thursday (Jun 12) for deliberately severing an undersea telecoms cable off the self-ruled island. The captain, surnamed Wang, and his Togolese-registered cargo ship Hongtai were detained in February after a cable linking the Penghu archipelago and Taiwan was reported cut. A district court in southern Taiwan found Wang guilty of violating the Telecommunications Management Act for destroying a submarine cable and jailed him for three years. The court said Wang had ordered two crew members to lower the Hongtai's anchor into waters off southwestern Taiwan where he would have known anchoring was prohibited because it could damage the subsea cable. The anchor's claw did not lodge in the seabed and the ship drifted. The cable had been "completely severed" by the time Taiwan's coast guard intercepted the Hongtai and ordered the lifting of its anchor, the court said in the judgement. Wang admitted he had been negligent but denied "intentional wrongdoing". He can appeal against the sentence. The court said the evidence was sufficient to find Wang's "criminal conduct established", adding that the punishment was "a warning". Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom spent more than NT$17 million (US$578,000) to repair the cable, the court said. Prosecutors had said Wang was the first Chinese ship captain charged with severing an undersea telecoms cable. The other seven crew members were to be deported without charge. Taiwan has 14 international underwater cables and 10 domestic ones. There have been a series of undersea cable breakages in recent years, with previous incidents blamed on natural deterioration of the wires or Chinese ships. The coast guard said previously the Hongtai was among 52 "suspicious" Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience from Mongolia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone highlighted for close monitoring.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taiwan president did not order attack on area frequented by Chinese ships
"The government has taken a tough stance! The national army defends Taiwan's sovereignty, preventing anyone from invading our waters and casually cutting our undersea cables," reads the traditional Chinese caption of an image shared on Facebook on March 9, 2025. The image, which shows Lai delivering a speech, is superimposed with text that reads, "Chinese ships frequently cut Taiwan's undersea cables. Lai Ching-te's government now orders the national army to shoot at the area where Chinese ships linger". The same image also circulated in posts on X, Threads and YouTube. The claim spread after Taiwan's coast guard detained the Togolese-registered ship Hongtai and its Chinese captain for severing an undersea telecoms cable serving the Penghu island group in the sensitive Taiwan Strait (archived link). The coast guard said the Hongtai was among 52 "suspicious" Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience from Mongolia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone highlighted for close monitoring. Vessels suspected of loitering or anchoring near subsea cables will be warned by radio to leave the area, and boarding inspections will be conducted when needed. Taipei fears Beijing -- which claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control -- could sever its communication links as part of an attempt to seize or blockade the island (archived link). While Taiwan's defence ministry issued notice of a planned drill to the southeast of the Penghu island group on March 24, and warned fisherman to avoid the area for their own safety, the ministry told the state-run Central News Agency (CNA) that "no live-free shooting will be carried out in the sea and air exercise area" (archived here and here). A keyword search on the website of the Taiwan president's office also found no order to open fire in the area where the Chinese ships had reportedly lingered (archived link). A reverse image search on Google found the photo of Lai used in the false posts predates the detention of the Hongtai, and has circulated in CNA reports since March 2023 (archived link). CNA told AFP in a March 20 email that the image is one of the agency's archived photos (archived link). Taken on March 15, 2023, its caption says it shows Lai after he completed his registration for the presidential primary election. AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about Taiwan here.
AFP
24-03-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Taiwan president did not order attack on area frequented by Chinese ships
"The government has taken a tough stance! The national army defends Taiwan's sovereignty, preventing anyone from invading our waters and casually cutting our undersea cables," reads the traditional Chinese caption of an image shared on on March 9, 2025. The image, which shows Lai delivering a speech, is superimposed with text that reads, "Chinese ships frequently cut Taiwan's undersea cables. Lai Ching-te's government now orders the national army to shoot at the area where Chinese ships linger". Image Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on March 20, 2025 The same image also circulated in posts on X, Threads and YouTube. The claim spread after Taiwan's coast guard detained the Togolese-registered ship Hongtai and its Chinese captain for severing an undersea telecoms cable serving the Penghu island group in the sensitive Taiwan Strait (archived link). The coast guard said the Hongtai was among 52 "suspicious" Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience from Mongolia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone highlighted for close monitoring. Vessels suspected of loitering or anchoring near subsea cables will be warned by radio to leave the area, and boarding inspections will be conducted when needed. Taipei fears Beijing -- which claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control -- could sever its communication links as part of an attempt to seize or blockade the island (archived link). While Taiwan's defence ministry issued notice of a planned drill to the southeast of the Penghu island group on March 24, and warned fisherman to avoid the area for their own safety, the ministry told the state-run Central News Agency (CNA) that "no live-free shooting will be carried out in the sea and air exercise area" (archived here and here). A keyword search on website of the Taiwan president's office also found no order to open fire in the area where the Chinese ships had reportedly lingered (archived link). A reverse image search on Google found the photo of Lai used in the false posts predates the detention of the Hongtai, and has circulated in CNA reports since March 2023 (archived link). CNA told AFP in a March 20 email that the image is one of the agency's archived (archived link). Taken on March 15, . Image Screenshot of the image used in the false post (left) and the CNA photo taken in March 2023 (right) has fact-checked other misinformation about Taiwan here.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taiwan Catches Chinese-Crewed Ship Allegedly Damaging Undersea Cable
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing. Taiwan has detained a Chinese-crewed ship over suspicions it deliberately damaged an undersea cable to the island. On Tuesday, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration reported intercepting the 'Hongtai 168' while investigating a disruption involving an undersea fiber cable for a local mobile carrier, Chunghwa Telecom. The report suggests Taiwan authorities caught the Hongtai in the act of damaging the undersea cable. Taiwan's coast guard noted it had already deployed a patrol boat to monitor the ship at 2:30 a.m. local time. The boat then detected Hongtai dropping its anchor. At 3:03 a.m., Chunghwa Telecom began noticing problems with the undersea cable. 'Upon detecting that the vessel had dropped anchor and remained stationary, authorities immediately issued a broadcast order for it to leave and maintained full surveillance,' Taiwan's coast guard added. After receiving the outage report from Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwanese authorities then seized the ship and escorted it to Anping Port in Tainan City. 'The case is being handled at a national security level,' the coast guard added. Taiwan has become increasingly concerned about suspected efforts from China to disrupt internet communications to the island. Last month, a separate Chinese vessel was suspected of damaging another cable to Taiwan. These so-called 'gray zone' operations occur when China has long sought to retake Taiwan and undermine the island's democratically elected government. In this case, the Hongtai 168 flew the flag from the African country Togo. However, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration says the ship was crewed by eight Chinese nationals. 'The Coast Guard emphasized that the cause of the submarine cable break—whether it was intentional sabotage or a simple accident—remains under investigation,' it said. 'Authorities are not ruling out the possibility that this incident is part of China's gray-zone interference operations.' Meanwhile, Chunghwa Telecom reports it's been re-routing communication through a backup cable. "The voice, mobile, Internet, and various communication services of Taiwan and Penghu users were not affected," it said.
