Taiwan’s coast guard intercepted the Togolese-flagged cargo ship Hongtai in waters between its main island’s west coast and the outlying Penghu Islands early Tuesday, according to a statement by the coast guard.
The coast guard had earlier been notified by telecommunications provider Chunghwa Telecom that one of its undersea cables had been severed 6 nautical miles (11 kilometers) northwest of Jiangjun Fishing Harbor.
After the Chunghwa Telecom cable damage report, the coast guard approached the ship, which had begun to sail northwestward, and escorted it to Anping Port.
Communications on the Penghu Islands were not disrupted because Chunghwa Telecom had successfully activated a backup cable, the coast guard said.
Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Chinese-crewed ship suspected of severing an undersea communications cable in the latest such incident adding to tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
