When a Taiwanese telecoms company detected that an international undersea cable was damaged earlier this month, it worked to divert internet traffic from the broken line to keep customers on the island connected.

In 2023, the outlying Matsu Islands, within view of the Chinese coast, endured patchy internet for months after two undersea internet cables broke. These fiber optic cables that connect Taiwan to the internet suffered about 30 such breaks between 2017 and 2023.

A Chinese-owned vessel is suspected of severing an undersea cable off the Taiwanese coast recently, according to authorities on the island. Taiwan’s coast guard requested that the cargo ship return to shore for an investigation,

Taiwan and China traded barbs over what the government in Taipei suspects was a Chinese-linked ship's damage to an undersea communications cable off the island's coast, an incident that has raised alarm bells on the island.

The Coast Guard Administration on Tuesday said that the crew of a freighter suspected of cutting a subsea cable was Chinese and the vessel was registered with two names in two countries. The CGA's Ocean Affairs Council said it convened an inter-agency coordination meeting to strengthen monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for undersea cables.

Taiwan's coast guard said it sent a ship to investigate a report on Friday from telecoms provider Chunghwa Telecom that an undersea communications cable had been damaged off the island's north coast.

Taiwan suspects China of being behind damage to a crucial subsea communications cable just off its northern coast, which occurred last week.

A Chinese-owned freighter registered in Cameroon has drawn scrutiny for severing an undersea cable off the coast of northern Taiwan near Keelung Harbor. This latest disruption underscores the growing vulnerabilities in Taiwan's critical infrastructure as tensions with China continue to escalate.