Report: Taiwan Boarded First Ship as It Targets Dangerous Chinese Vessels

Taiwan’s Coast Guard is moving forward with its effort to monitor and inspect potentially dangerous vessels following an incident in which an undersea cable was damaged. The Financial Times reports it has seen a so-called “blacklist” of Chinese-owned vessels registered in five international registries which will be the priority for monitoring and inspections.

Plans had been announced at mid-month for an inspection program to increase the protection of the island’s key infrastructure assets. Taiwan’s Navy said it would lead the monitoring effort focusing on vessels stopped or lingering in coastal water as well as those demonstrating “unusual” speed changes, and those that are navigating “suspicious” routes.

The list seen by the Financial Times reportedly has been culled from the Tokyo MOU’s listing of problematic vessels. The report says a total of 52 vessels were listed and of that 15 have been ranked for a threat level.

The focus of the “blacklist” is said to be vessels owned by companies in China, Hong Kong, or Macau and registered under the flags of Cameroon, Tanzania, Mongolia, Togo, and Sierra Leone. According to the report, Taiwanese identified these flags due to a prevalence of faulty documents, and violations of maritime safety and labor regulations. Taiwan notes China’s use of commercial ships in military exercises and fishing vessels in its militia.

The first vessel to be boarded according to the Financial Times was a 20-year-old Mongolia-flagged cargo ship named Bao Shun. While the inspection did not find invalid documents, contraband cargo, or equipment for cutting cables, the vessel reportedly has been lingering for two months off Taiwan. The vessel was reportedly instructed to leave Taiwanese waters.

Taiwan’s focus on these vessels followed similar efforts in the Baltic after cables between Finland and Estonia were damaged on December 25. Taiwan reported that a subsea cable was damaged off its north coast on January 3. That followed a similar incident in which telecom lines to outlying islands were severed in February 2023 leaving remote communities with limited communications.

A Chinese-owned vessel with a murky history was identified as the suspect in the recent incident. Taiwanese officials reported the ship’s name as Shunxing 39 saying the vessel was reporting registry in Cameroon. The Financial Times reports the vessel is likely the Xing Shun 39 which is registered in Tanzania but which has used several different identities over the past year.

Taiwan had said in mid-January that it would be tracking the vessels and that the information would be supplied to the Coast Guard. The intent was to intercept the vessels and when necessary board them for inspections. The Coast Guard was unable to board the vessel suspected in the latest cable incident in part due to bad weather.

Baltic countries had also said they were increasing their patrols of coastal waters in the region and were successful in getting NATO’s commitment to also increase monitoring and patrols. Despite these increased efforts, Latvia reported yesterday another incident under investigation involving a cable to Sweden. A Malta-flagged tanker was identified as a suspect and Sweden moved to detain the vessel pending further investigations.

NATO and government officials have warned that this is part of a new “hybrid warfare” effort linked to Russia and the Chinese. They are citing deliberate efforts to damage critical undersea infrastructure. It comes as Taiwan continues to be under pressure by the Chinese government which is demanding reunification.