The Chinese director of a company whose ship is suspected by Taiwan of damaging an underwater communications cable said Wednesday there was no evidence the ship was involved, an incident that alarmed the Taipei government.
Taiwan’s coast guard said it sent a ship to investigate a report from telecommunications operator Chunghwa Telecom that an underwater communications cable had been damaged off the island’s northern coast.
Arriving on the scene, the coast guards found the Chinese vessel “Shunxin 39”, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, which they asked to return to the port of Taiwan to carry out an investigation.
In a statement, the Coast Guard said bad weather prevented them from boarding the vessel for verification, but that it could not rule out the possibility that the vessel was engaged in “gray zone” activities. However, they provided no direct evidence of this possibility.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has repeatedly complained about Chinese activities in the “gray zone” around the island designed to pressure it without direct confrontation, such as balloon flying and sand dredging.
Taiwan’s digital ministry said the maritime cable was cut on January 3, but service was not affected after the emergency cables were activated.
Radio communications were exchanged with the vessel, which is registered to a Hong Kong company called Jie Yang Trading, according to shipping records.
In his first public comments on the incident, Guo Wenjie, the director of Jie Yang, denied any involvement of the ship, while confirming that it was in the area. Taiwanese authorities did not stop the ship after the radio exchanges with the captain, he added.
“There is no proof,” he told Reuters by telephone, rejecting the accusation that the ship was responsible for the damage. “I spoke to the captain of the ship and for us it was a normal trip.
Speaking in Mandarin, Mr Guo confirmed that the vessel belonged to the company Jie Yang Trading, which Hong Kong’s company registry shows was established in 2020 and Mr Guo is its sole director .
His Hong Kong address is a single room in an office shared by a secretarial services company in a shoddy industrial building.
China did not respond to requests for comment on the incident, while Taiwan, which strongly rejects China’s sovereignty claims, says communications were not affected.
In response to Mr Guo’s comments, the Taiwan Coast Guard said it was not yet able to assess the vessel’s “real intent” from tracking data.
The ship lingered in waters just north of Taiwan from early December until its transmission signal was turned off on Jan. 3, according to navigation data.
Mr. Guo declined to elaborate on why the ship remained in the area or the purpose of the voyage, but said Taiwanese authorities had only sought details of its GPS movements.
“I don’t understand why this case has attracted so much attention,” Mr. Guo said. “The ship had dropped anchor, so it had stopped in nearby waters.
“We followed normal rules and procedures. If we didn’t, Taiwan would have investigated and arrested us.
The incident alarmed Taiwanese security officials, who are expected to brief Taipei-based diplomats on the matter this week, according to people familiar with the matter.
“We need to inform everyone that such behavior does not only affect Taiwan. It could also affect international communications,” a senior Taiwan security official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because he s This is a sensitive subject.
“This is an issue that affects the interests of many countries.
Taiwan is particularly concerned about the vulnerability of underwater communications cables following complaints by Baltic Sea countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Last month, Taiwan’s presidential office held its first simulation exercise involving government agencies beyond the armed forces, simulating scenarios such as military escalation with China and disrupted international maritime links, officials said .
In 2023, two submarine cables connecting the Matsu Islands, controlled by Taiwan and located near the Chinese coast, were cut, allowing their 14,000 inhabitants to disconnect from the internet.
Officials said early on that initial findings showed a Chinese fishing vessel and cargo ship were behind the disruptor, but that there was no evidence Beijing had deliberately tampered with the cables.
In recent years, Taiwan has worked to strengthen its capacity to respond to emergency situations, whether disasters or military conflicts, including the use of alternative means of communication, such as satellites, in the event of a cut of its international maritime cables.
