Taiwan charges Chinese master over cable cutting

For the first time, Taiwan has charged a Chinese ship captain for intentionally damaging undersea cables in February. 

The master of the Chinese-crewed, Togo-flagged Hong Tai 68 maintains his innocence in one of many cable cutting incidents around the island in recent months. The rest of the crew have been allowed to head home. 

The ship was able to change its name many times as the crews simply replaced three steel plates (pictured) at its stern and on its bow whereby it has also recently traded as the Hong Tai 58 and Shanmei 7.

The captain of the vessel – dubbed in local media as the ‘thousand faces ship’ – had on an earlier occasion been caught entering Taiwan with false documents.

Ships from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau are now required to go through longer port visit application processes to the island with the paperwork expected to take up to a month per vessel visit. Ships also flying the flags of Cameroon, Tanzania, Mongolia, Togo and Sierra Leone are also required to fill in the extra filings, many of which will be screened by Taiwanese security officials before being passed on to Taiwan’s Maritime and Port Administration.

Like in the Baltic, Taiwan has faced multiple attacks on its subsea infrastructure in recent months, largely from merchant ships dragging their anchors. 

The island blacklisted 52 Chinese-owned ships in January while Taiwan’s National Security Bureau has said ships which have previously been found to misreport information will be put on a list of ships for priority inspection at ports.

Moreover, if these ships enter within 24 nautical miles of Taiwan’s coast and are close to where undersea cables are, the coast guard will be dispatched to board them and investigate.