Taiwan said a Chinese cargo ship damaged a telecommunications cable near a port off the country's northern coast.. This led to a temporary disruption in communications, reports the Financial Times..

The incident happened on the morning of January 3. The cargo ship Shunxing39 reportedly damaged a submarine cable near Keelung Port. It is part of the Trans-Pacific Express Cable System, which provides connectivity between Taiwan and the United States.

According to information, the ship Shunxing39 pulled its anchor in the place where the cable broke. Although the coast guard vessel conducted an external inspection of the vessel and established radio contact with the captain, its personnel were unable to board due to bad weather, and the time to detain the vessel in accordance with international law had already expired.

Taiwan believes the incident may be part of China's strategy to disrupt the island's external communications in order to potentially annex the country..

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Although the ship is flying the Cameroonian flag, it is owned by Jie Yang Trading Limited. Its owner is Mainland Chinese citizen Guo Wenjie.

" The ships involved in these incidents are usually outdated vessels, almost unsuitable for commercial activities.

This vessel resembles those that belong to the “shadow fleet” of Russia,” said a senior official of the Taiwanese national security service. Let us recall that on November 17-18, two underwater Internet cables were broken in the Baltic Sea. The first cable ran between Finland and Sweden, and the second between Sweden and Lithuania.

Later, on December 3, it became known about two new breaks in the Internet cable between Sweden and Finland. As a result, about 6,000 households in Finland experienced communication problems.