Special monitoring zones would be established around undersea cables to prevent possible “gray zone” tactics by China, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.
The Shunxing-39, a Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel, on Monday last week allegedly damaged an undersea cable off northern Taiwan by dragging its anchor over it.
Colonel Hu Chung-hua (胡中華) said ministry officials have met with Coast Guard Administration (CGA) representatives and other agencies to collaborate on potential preventive action and intelligence sharing.
Photo: Fang Wei-li, Taipei Times
Colonel Lee Chang-fu (李昌富) said the ministry would establish special monitoring zones in Yilan County’s Toucheng Township (頭城), New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts, Penghu County and Pingtung County’s Fangshan Township (枋山).
Suspicious ships loitering near these areas would be reported to the CGA for investigation, Lee said, adding that the navy would dispatch ships to assist CGA operations if the latter makes such a request.
The ministry is aware of the possibility of a large-scale sabotage of undersea cables and has set up multiple networks to prevent a communications blackout, Colonel Lei Yung-chi (雷詠淇) said.
The National Security Bureau in a report submitted to the Legislative Yuan ahead of a Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting today said that undersea cable destruction incidents — which have occurred seven to eight times in Taiwan over the past three years — showed that information network resilience and the establishment of backup communication methods were critical national security issues.
Ships flying flags of convenience are entitled to claim “innocent passage” under international law, but such behaviors have become a method that foreign powers use to threaten Taiwan, it said.
Patrols should prioritize the maritime zones near undersea cable landing stations, it said.
Ships flying flags of convenience of countries with a history of falsifying their customs reports should be prioritized for inspections, the agency said.
CGA officers should board and inspect the Maritime Mobile Service Identity and automatic identification systems of such ships once they are within 24 nautical miles (44km) of Taiwan, near the special monitoring zones or have asked to enter Taiwanese ports, it said.
Separately, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) said it is adopting policies to reinforce communications resilience throughout the country.
Efforts would include asking industry owners to conduct risk assessment reports, establish security protocols, increase the number of undersea cables and cable landing stations, and establish server rooms for additional redundancy, the MODA said.
The ministry has set up 773 non-geostationary orbit ground stations, 700 of which would help ensure Taiwan’s command structure retains its communications capability if undersea cables or microwave telecommunications are severed, the MODA said.
Additional reporting by Wu Che-yu
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS