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 raises concern China will try to cut all undersea cables to Taiwan in the event of a military invasion, so Taiwan is racing to develop a satellite-based internet service.

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.

The Chinese director of a firm whose vessel Taiwan suspects of having damaged an undersea communications cable said on Wednesday there was no evidence the ship was involved, an incident that has alarmed the government in Taipei.

A Taiwanese freighter is accused of deliberately dragging its anchor to cut an internet cable directly linking Taiwan to the U.S. East Coast.

Taiwan's undersea cable disruptions near Keelung have intensified concerns about the security of critical tech infrastructure, particularly as similar incidents occurred in the Baltic Sea in November and during the 2024 year-end holiday season.

It’s the latest in a spate of murky disruptions to undersea cables that have put European authorities on high alert and heightened fears of sabotage by Russia.

By bno - Taipei Bureau Taiwan’s investigation into damage to an undersea communications cable has sparked heightened tensions, with a Chinese-registered vessel emerging as a key figure in the case. The incident,