When a Taiwanese telecoms company detected that an international undersea cable was damaged earlier this month, it worked to divert internet traffic from the broken line to keep customers on the island connected.

In 2023, the outlying Matsu Islands, within view of the Chinese coast, endured patchy internet for months after two undersea internet cables broke. These fiber optic cables that connect Taiwan to the internet suffered about 30 such breaks between 2017 and 2023.

Taiwan has accused a Chinese-owned ship of severing a critical data cable off its northern coast on Friday. Officials in Taipei discovered that four cores of an international submarine cable, which transmits data to America’s AT&T, were left ruptured early on Jan 3.

Taiwan and China traded barbs over what the government in Taipei suspects was a Chinese-linked ship's damage to an undersea communications cable off the island's coast, an incident that has raised alarm bells on the island.

The incident caused only minimal disruption of service but sent a message about the vulnerability of the island and its internet.

The damage to an undersea internet cable has raised Taiwan's concerns about possible "gray area" operations by China. The Taiwanese Coast Guard suspects a Chinese ship may have been involved. Taiwanese telecommunications company Chunghwa Telecom reported damage to an international undersea internet cable,

The damage to an undersea internet cable has heightened Taiwan's concerns about possible "grey area" operations by China. The Taiwanese Coast Guard suspects that a Chinese vessel may have been involved in the incident.