A Chinese cargo ship captain has been ordered to be detained for severing an undersea telecoms cable off the island, according to a court filing on Thursday ( Feb 27 ).
The coast guard detained the Togolese-registered send Hongtai on Tuesday following the cut in a deepwater wire serving Taiwan’s Penghu isle team in the delicate Taiwan Strait.
The Hongtai, using a symbol of pleasure, was crewed by eight Foreign citizens and had Chinese cash, the coastline guard said.
The captain, surnamed Wang, was a flight risk and should be detained, the Tainan district judge said in a speech.
” Wang destroyed the underwater cable, resulting in the intrusion of inter-island connections, which affected government and social functions”, the judge said in a statement.
The pause in communication does put the public in risk. The violence is no small and has caused a particular degree of harm to social surveillance”, the judge said, ordering Wang’s detention.
Wang has denied wrong.
The various team members were prohibited from leaving Taiwan, according to the prosecution’s attorneys on Wednesday.
The coast guard had spotted the Hongtai “lingering” about six nautical miles ( 11 kilometers ) northwest of Jiangjun Fishing Port after the cable reportedly ran out connecting Penghu and Taiwan.
To avoid disruptions, the modern affairs ministry mandated that Chunghwa Telecom move Penghu’s voice communications and online services to additional undersea cables.
It was the most recent breakage of Chinese undersea cable, with previous incidents attributed to natural damage to the cables or Chinese ships.
Taiwan has 10 local marine cables, compared to 14 international ones.
The coast guard said the Hongtai was among 52″ wary” Chinese-owned boats flying banners of pleasure from Mongolia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone highlighted for near surveillance.
Regulators will look for irregularities in the function of a ship’s automatic identification system and false vessel names.
Vessels who are suspected of loitering or anchoring close to deepwater connectors will be radio-alerted to leave the area, and boarding checks will be conducted as needed.