“COMMON ACCIDENTS”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office claimed that more than 100 instances of undersea cable damage are” frequent sea incidents” and that they occur annually in a written speech sent to Reuters late on Wednesday.
Taiwan is “intentionally hyping up the so-called dark corridor danger from the mainland” while the facts are also undetermined, it added, without going into specifics about whether the ship involved was involved or not.
Taiwan, which highly rejects China’s independence statements, says communications were unaffected by the cord damage.
Responding to Guo’s remarks, Taiwan’s coast guard said it was not still able to gauge the boat’s “real purpose” from tracking information.
Shipping records indicate that the vessel had been lingering in Taiwan’s waters off the coast since early December until its broadcasting sign was disabled on January 3.
Guo said the Taiwan authorities had just inquired about the ship’s GPS actions, and that it had remained in the area and the reason for the cruise.
” I don’t know why there has been so much information about this”, Guo said. ” The fleet had dropped outlet, so it had stopped in the local waters.
” We followed the rules and standard procedures. Taiwan may have conducted an investigation and taken us into custody if not.
The event has alarmed Taiwan’s security leaders, who are set to small Taipei-based officials on the subject this year, say sources familiar with the matter.
” We must tell people that such behaviour doesn’t only affect Taiwan. A top Taiwan safety official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that it might also affect global communications because the situation is so delicate.
” It is important to the passions of numerous countries.”
Following occurrences of problems by Baltic Sea countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Taiwan has been particularly concerned about the risk of underwater communications wires.
According to officials, Taiwan’s Presidential Office held its first “tabletop” exercise last month that involved government agencies outside the armed forces and simulated scenarios like a military confrontation with China and the end of international maritime ties.
In 2023, two undersea cables with the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands, which sit close to the Chinese coast, were cut, disconnecting their 14, 000 residents from the internet.
There was no evidence Beijing intentionally tampered with the cables, according to authorities at the time, but initial findings showed a Chinese fishing vessel and a Chinese freighter were responsible for the disruption.
If Taiwan’s international sea cables are cut, it has made improvements to its capacity to deal with emergencies ranging from military conflicts to disasters. This includes using alternative communications like satellites.  ,