Taiwanese prosecutors have charged a Chinese ship captain with intentionally damaging undersea communication cables.
The captain led a Chinese-crewed cargo ship registered in Togo. Taiwanese authorities detained the vessel in February near the site of a cable malfunction off the island’s southwestern coast, suspecting it had dropped anchor deliberately to cause damage.
The captain has denied the charges but refused to cooperate fully, including withholding details about the ship’s ownership. Prosecutors also noted his uncooperative attitude during the investigation.
Seven other Chinese nationals aboard the ship will not face charges and are being returned to China. This marks Taiwan’s first prosecution of its kind and comes after a spike in undersea cable failures.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s coastguard has stepped up monitoring efforts. China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, has not formally responded to the charges but has accused Taipei of distorting facts to unfairly implicate Beijing.
