Taiwan: Submarine cable cut again

The two submarine cables that supply the Matsu Islands, which belong to Taiwan, with an Internet connection have been cut by Chinese ships – and not for the first time. Taiwan is officially holding back on accusations against the Chinese regime, but the evidence is clear. Restoring the connection is expected to take several weeks.

Group of islands off Chinese coast

The Matsu Islands lie just off the Chinese coast, but are part of Taiwan. This particular location makes them a problem: not only is defending the islands from China costly, but so is providing infrastructure. Taiwan’s main island is more than 200 kilometers away. Internet supply on the 19 Matsu islands is provided by two submarine cables running to Taiwan. These have been cut repeatedly in the past: 27 times in the past five years. This means that they are damaged far more frequently than other submarine cables, which can hardly be explained by chance.

This time, the first cable was damaged by a Chinese fishing boat on February 2. The second cable was cut six days later by a Chinese freighter. Since then, the islands have been largely without Internet service. The sabotage is part of the conflict between China and Taiwan. China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and repeatedly threatens to use force to bring about its incorporation if necessary. In the wake of increasing tensions between China and the United States, which acts as Taiwan’s protective power, the situation in the Taiwan conflict has also become more tense.

In addition, the Russian attack on Ukraine, which was motivated by similar motives, has fueled fears of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. As a result, Taiwan, for example, has decided to set up its own satellite Internet in order to maintain the appropriate infrastructure in the event of war. The current incident shows that such efforts make perfect sense outside of a war. However, Taiwan has so far held back on official accusations despite the obvious Chinese intervention.

Restoration no earlier than mid-April

It will take some time before the Internet connection is restored. A special vessel needed to restore the cables to working order will not be available until April 20 at the earliest. The cost of the repair is estimated to be at least one million dollars. To bridge the interim, the Chunghwa Telecom company is working with a microwave radio link to Taiwan, but it is quite unreliable and provides only slow connections.