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.

The incident raises concern China will try to cut all undersea cables to Taiwan in the event of a military invasion, so Taiwan is racing to develop a satellite-based internet service.

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.

Taiwanese authorities and some analysts say the Chinese vessel, which operates under two different flags, could be carrying out China’s gray zone operations against Taiwan

On Wednesday, China's Taiwan Affairs Office dismissed the accusations, claiming undersea cable damage is part of common maritime accidents. It claimed Taiwan was making baseless accusations against China and exaggerating “so-called grey zone threats.”

Taiwan's coast guard has said that it suspects a ship damaged an undersea communications cable over the weekend, but that bad weather prevented its personnel from boarding the vessel to investigate. T

Taiwan accuses a ship of damaging undersea communications cables, raising tensions with China. While Taiwan suspects Chinese involvement, the ship's owner denies it. This incident highlights ongoing 'grey zone' tensions between Taiwan and China as Taipei seeks evidence to support its claims amid Beijing's denials.

A Taiwanese freighter is accused of deliberately dragging its anchor to cut an internet cable directly linking Taiwan to the U.S. East Coast.