BEIJING:  , China’s government said on Wednesday ( Feb 26 ) that Taiwan was “manipulating” possible Chinese involvement in the latest severing of an undersea communications cable, saying the island was casting aspersions before the facts were clear.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own country, has frequently complained about “grey area” Foreign activities around the area, designed to force it without immediate confrontation, such as balloon overflights and sand dredging.
A local underwater wire to the Penghu Islands in the delicate Taiwan Strait was disconnected on Tuesday, prompting the coast guard to detach a China-linked cargo ship.
Zhu Fenglian, director for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told investigators in Beijing that injury to undersea cables were a” frequent sea injury” which occur more than a hundred times a year worldwide.
She said, referring to Taiwan’s ruling party,” While the basic facts and the people responsible for the accident have not yet been clarified, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have purposefully exaggerated the situation in an attempt at political manipulation, which will not enjoy popular support.”
Taipei was alarmed when a ship with ties to China was discovered earlier this year and a ship suspected of damaging another cable, prompting the navy and other organizations to intensify their efforts to protect the island’s connections to the rest of the world.
Taiwan’s government, which rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty, has compared the damage it has experienced to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Taiwan has pointed the finger at ships which are actually Chinese but carry “flags of convenience” of other countries.