Taiwan Jails Chinese Master for Causing Damage to Subsea Cable

 

A court in Taiwan has sentenced the Chinese master of a shadowy cargo ship to three years in jail for “willfully anchoring in a prohibited zone,” which it concluded caused the damage to a critical undersea cable. Media reports are saying it is the first time Taiwan has convicted and ordered jail time, although it has reported several instances of cable damage and has been on high alert since the start of the year.

Taiwan reported at the beginning of 2025 that it was monitoring vessels and especially targeting ships operating under a flag of convenience. It believes many of these ships are owned by Chinese interests and are being used to test or harass the island nation.

In February, it detected a small cargo ship anchored approximately five nautical miles offshore. According to the reports, the vessel, which was alternately using the names Hong Tai 168 and Hong Tai 58 and registered in Togo, had entered the restricted zone on February 22. A shore station attempted to contact the vessel several times and received no reply. The Coast Guard asked the vessel to move from the area which it says was clearly marked on the charts.

On February 25, as the vessel was departing the zone at 0300 Chunghwa Telecom reported an outage on its Taiwan-Penghu No. 3 subsea cable and the Taiwan Coast Guard intercepted the vessel and directed it to port.  The vessel appears to have been built in 2006 and previously reported ownership by Chinese interests. It is 1,800 dwt and has a crew of eight Chinese nationals aboard. Taiwan reported it detained what it called a suspicious vessel.

The Coast Guard said the captain at first denied the charges and refused to give them details on the ownership of the vessel. He said he had a "bad attitude." BBC reports the ship has operated under multiple names and had only one cargo record in the past year. The ship was also in poor condition.

The District Court was told the vessel had anchored on February 22 in the restricted area and continued to drift. The Coast Guard however noted that it was moving in a zig zag pattern. The captain told the court they had anchored because of “rough waters” which he said made “navigation tricky.” He admitted to ordering two crewmembers to drop 160 meters of anchor chain but the Coast Guard says it did not attach to the bottom and the vessel continued to move around in the area of the cable.

Evidence showed the cable had been subjected to external forces and that it had been snagged by an external force. The captain denied intentionally damaging the cable but admitted it could have happened calling it simple negligence. The telecom company reports it spent $578,572 to repair the cable.

Under the charges, the court could have sentenced the captain to between one and seven years. He can appeal the three-year sentence. Insufficient evidence was found against the other seven crewmembers and they were deported.

Chinese officials have denied involvement or knowledge of the incident. They said it is a “common maritime accident” and called Taiwan’s accounts “exaggerated.”