Taiwan needs to strengthen resilience of undersea cables: Expert

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) Taiwan needs to strengthen the resilience of nearby undersea cables and work with like-minded democracies around the world to deter deliberate infrastructure sabotage, a national security expert said Thursday.

The expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, offered the assessment after a foreign freighter came under investigation for possibly damaging an undersea cable in waters off the northeastern coast of Taiwan last week.

In a statement, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said the communications outage was likely caused by the Cameroon-registered cargo ship "Shunxin39," which was operating in that area at the time.

The CGA did not provide details about the vessel's ownership, but according to a Reuters report on Jan. 8, citing shipping records, the Shunxin39 belonged to a Hong Kong-registered company called Jie Yang Trading and is being run by Guo Wenjie, its director.

In the report, Guo denied that the ship was responsible for the damage, but confirmed it was operating in the area.

Following the incident, there was speculation of China trying to provoke Taiwan by using "gray zone" tactics, referring to ambiguous and non-military tactics to achieve strategic objectives while avoiding open conflict or provoking retaliation.

The incident was not a first for Taiwan. In early 2023, two undersea communications cables connecting Taiwan proper and the Matsu Islands were suddenly cut off. Subsequent investigations led authorities to suspect it was caused by a Chinese dredger.

The national security expert said the issue is not confined to a single country, as such happenings have also been reported outside of Taiwan, but it needs to be addressed.

He said Taiwan needs to strengthen the resilience of undersea cables through inspections to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

It also needs to work with like-minded democracies around the world to establish an international reporting mechanism that levies punitive measures to deter deliberate infrastructure sabotage, the expert said.

On Thursday, the Executive Yuan said the case involving the recent undersea cable damage was being investigated by the Keelung District Prosecutors Office.

In the future, the CGA will strengthen the monitoring of key areas around Taiwan where undersea cables are installed to prevent such incidents from happening, Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a press briefing.

But Lin Ying-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said deploying vessels for monitoring purposes would not help solve the issue.

Instead, the CGA needed to establish an "aviation unit" comprised of drones and fixed-wing aircraft for aerial surveillance, Lin said, which would enhance the Coast Guard's ability to monitor and respond to potential threats more efficiently.