Cutting the cable
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A Chinese-owned vessel cut an undersea fiber-optic cable near Taiwan, according to Taiwanese authorities, causing only minimal disruption of service but sending a message about the vulnerability of the island and its internet.
The incident was the latest in a string of episodes of apparent sabotage—including the cutting of data cables beneath the Baltic Sea—that have called attention to the security of what is viewed as critical infrastructure across the world.
China is engaged in a long-running, multifaceted pressure campaign to influence the people and leadership of Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy on an island claimed by Beijing as its own territory.
At the same time, Taiwan is working to ensure that it has adequately secured internet service to keep the island online in the event of an invasion or blockade by China.
On Friday, the Hong Kong-owned, Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel was found cutting one of about a dozen undersea communications cables connecting Taiwan to other countries in the region, according to Taiwanese authorities. Seven crew members on board were Chinese nationals, authorities said.
At around 7:51 a.m. on Friday, a disruption warning about a subsea cable near Taiwan’s Keelung Harbor was sent to Chunghwa Telecom, the Taiwanese government-run telecommunications operator. Internet service was largely unaffected, the company said.
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@George-K said in Cutting the cable:
@Jolly said in Cutting the cable:
Seize the vessels and declare them salvage.
After you get the computers, of course.
Of course.
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@George-K said in Cutting the cable:
China is engaged in a long-running, multifaceted pressure campaign to influence the people and leadership of Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy on an island claimed by Beijing as its own territory.
One of the things that mainland China is doing is to fly their flighter jets close to Taiwan, forcing Taiwan to send up our own planes.
I am currently in southwest Taiwan, and hear the taiwan fighter jets (sometimes with sonic booms) flying ALOT overhead.