A cut undersea internet cable is making Taiwan worried about ‘gray zone’ tactics from Beijing

Taipei, Taiwan/Hong Kong CNN —

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.

But the company, Chunghwa Telecom, also went to Taiwan’s Coast Guard to report the incident – and a “suspicious vessel” observed on the same route as the affected cable, according to a statement from the company, a major local internet provider.

Taiwan Coast Guard officials in the days since have said they suspect that the Shunxin39 – a Chinese-linked cargo vessel – could have cut the cable, in an incident that has spotlighted the island’s growing concerns about vulnerabilities that could be exploited by Beijing.

Taiwan officials have not cited direct evidence that the ship damaged the cable, and the Taiwan Coast Guard said in a statement Monday that it could not determine the vessel’s intentions. It called for South Korea, the ship’s destination, to help with further investigation.

But the situation has raised concerns among Taiwanese authorities of potential “gray zone operations,” or acts that fall below the threshold of war – in particular those that could hamper the island’s internet and communications with the outside world.

Those concerns come as Taiwan has faced increasing intimidation from Beijing, which claims the self-ruled democracy as its own territory and has vowed to take control of it, by force if necessary.

They also follow a string of incidents in recent yearsof damage to undersea infrastructure worldwide, including communications cables. Two high-profile incidents in the Baltic Sea involved Chinese ships and remain under investigation.

Taiwan’s Coast Guard