Taiwan’s coastguard said it caught a Chinese-owned freighter in the act of cutting a subsea communications cable off its western coast early on Tuesday, the first encounter since Taipei launched a crackdown on Beijing’s so-called shadow fleet.

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. 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 on Tuesday,

The Coast Guard said it was investigating how the cable was severed and said it could not rule out the possibility of sabotage.

TAIPEI: Taiwan detained a Chinese-crewed cargo ship on Tuesday after a subsea telecoms cable was severed off the island, the coast guard said. It is the

Taiwan detained eight Chinese nationals crewing a ship suspected of severing an undersea cable connecting the island of Penghu.

Cargo vessel and 8-member crew escorted to Taiwan after communication link to Penghu Islands damaged in suspected ‘harassment’, coastguard says.