China Blames Taiwanese Smugglers for Severed Subsea Cable, Escalating Feud with Taiwan

A severed cable, a jailed captain, and now a smuggling plot. China and Taiwan are locked in a new war of words over who cut the island's digital lifeline. Beijing has now accused two Taiwanese nationals of leading a smuggling operation that damaged a critical subsea communications cable in February, directly countering Taipei's claims that the incident was a deliberate act of sabotage.

Beijing's Counter-Narrative: Smuggling, Not Sabotage

The public security bureau in Weihai, a city in China’s Shandong province, announced on Wednesday that its investigation showed the vessel involved—the Togo-registered Hong Tai 58—was operated by two Taiwanese men smuggling frozen goods. According to Chinese state media, China's Taiwan Affairs Office accused Taiwan’s governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of falsely framing the incident to “stir cross-Strait confrontation.” Authorities have offered a reward of up to 250,000 yuan ($35,569) for information on the suspects, identified by the surnames Chien and Chen, who have reportedly been on a wanted list since 2014.

Taiwan Fires Back: 'Political Manipulation'

Taipei swiftly rejected the accusations. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council stated that the Chinese Communist Party has no jurisdiction over Taiwan and urged Beijing to provide concrete evidence. “In the absence of concrete evidence, publicly announcing names and offering rewards is not a civilized practice,” the council said, calling it “another instance of cross-border repression and political manipulation.” Previously, Taiwan had labeled the cable-cutting a “grey zone” tactic—a coercive act with plausible deniability. In June, a Taiwanese court had already sentenced the Chinese captain of the Hong Tai 58 to three years in jail for intentionally damaging the cables.

A Fragile Global Lifeline

Subsea cables form the backbone of the global internet, carrying nearly all of the world's data traffic. They're also remarkably vulnerable. According to industry data, between 100 and 200 cable breakdowns occur annually, and proving malicious intent is notoriously difficult. Since 2023, there have been at least 11 cases of subsea cable damage around Taiwan alone. The issue isn't isolated to Asia; countries in Europe's Baltic Sea have also seen a spike in similar incidents involving Russia- and China-linked ships since the invasion of Ukraine.