Taiwan’s undersea cables connecting it to the world were allegedly severed several times by a Chinese ship registered under a flag of convenience. As the vessel sailed, it used several different automatic identification systems (AIS) to create fake routes. That type of “shadow fleet” and “gray zone” tactics could create a security crisis in Taiwan and warrants response measures.
The concept of a shadow fleet originates from the research of Elisabeth Braw, senior fellow at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. The phenomenon was initiated by authoritarian countries such as Iran, North Korea and Russia, which have been hit by international economic sanctions over the past few years. They responded to the sanctions by using several retired postal service vessels or unofficial ships to secretly transport oil or other special materials to raise money for war chests. Because of the unknown routes of these shadow fleets — as their crew disable their vessel’s AIS transponders — they are able to skirt sanctions under international maritime law. Thus, they create a serious threat for the environments around island nations.
NATO on Jan. 14 for the first time invited its Baltic state members to convene and discuss the more than 10 incidents of undersea cables severed by Russia’s shadow fleets since 2023. Such incidents have an enormous impact on European and global energy supplies and network communications.
NATO has decided to launch its “Baltic Sentry” activities. It could deploy naval vessels, surveillance aircraft and uncrewed aerial drones to conduct patrols, bolstering and guaranteeing the security of key territory and underwater infrastructure. These developments show that shadow fleets are a pressing and significant threat to global security.
Following the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, China has steadily reviewed, amended and evolved its military strategies against Taiwan to incorporate such warfare uses of shadow fleets. Over the past two years, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has conducted four large-scale “Taiwan blockade” drills — given the codename “Joint Sword” — which involve the joint operations training of the PLA navy and air force.
Apart from its conventional military forces, China is implementing a “shadow fleet” as a war strategy, encroaching on Taiwan’s undersea fiber-optic communications cables in its domestic waters and in international waters. China’s actions are meant to terrify Taiwanese and create social instability, and to influence the government toward being unable to contact the international community at a moment’s notice. This is why China’s possible invasion plan of Taiwan could incorporate mixed warfare modalities such as shadow fleets.
In early February 2023, two Taiwanese undersea communications cables linking Taiwan proper to Lienchiang County (Matsu) on the other side of the Taiwan Strait were twice severed by a Chinese fishing boat and an unidentified ship, impacting phone calls, communications and broadband networks with services cut off for more than two months in the county.
The greater trend is that over the past five years, Chinese shipping vessels and fishing boats have cut local undersea power cables no fewer than 30 times, media reports showed.
This developmental trend is serious.
China frequently destroys Taiwan’s undersea cables. A few weeks ago, a bold and deliberate incident occurred near Taiwan’s northern coast in the waters off Yehliu Geopark (野柳地質公園) — it has already been chalked up as a shadow fleet attack.
In response to this new style of maritime activities, the legislature on Jan. 16 requested that the National Security Council (NSC), the Ministry of National Defense, the Mainland Affairs Council, the National Communications Commission, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Coast Guard Administration conduct a special report. However, the proposed eight-part report has been criticized by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, saying that each ministry, department, agency, commission and body has yet to come together to provide a cohesive joint report or a platform for pooling resources and information, but are instead acting alone. When that news came out, the government bodies handling the “gray zone” tactic incidents were still confined within the narrow limitations of their respective departments.
Taiwan is an island nation. It must rely on its undersea cables to communicate with the outside world. China’s use of “gray zone” tactics via its deliberate attempts to seal off Taiwan’s communications networks and sever its power cables is a test of the communications resilience of Taiwan’s national defense operations.
The NSC should convene cross-agency dialogues and meetings, conduct studies, collect suggestions and expert opinions, and establish an effective defense zone and response systems to fend off China’s shadow fleet and avoid attacks on its undersea cables.
Yao Chung-yuan is an adjunct professor and former deputy director of the Ministry of National Defense’s Department of Strategic Planning.
Translated by Tim Smith
The US Senate’s passage of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which urges Taiwan’s inclusion in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise and allocates US$1 billion in military aid, marks yet another milestone in Washington’s growing support for Taipei. On paper, it reflects the steadiness of US commitment, but beneath this show of solidarity lies contradiction. While the US Congress builds a stable, bipartisan architecture of deterrence, US President Donald Trump repeatedly undercuts it through erratic decisions and transactional diplomacy. This dissonance not only weakens the US’ credibility abroad — it also fractures public trust within Taiwan. For decades,
The government and local industries breathed a sigh of relief after Shin Kong Life Insurance Co last week said it would relinquish surface rights for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) to Nvidia Corp. The US chip-design giant’s plan to expand its local presence will be crucial for Taiwan to safeguard its core role in the global artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem and to advance the nation’s AI development. The land in dispute is owned by the Taipei City Government, which in 2021 sold the rights to develop and use the two plots of land, codenamed T17 and T18, to the
The ceasefire in the Middle East is a rare cause for celebration in that war-torn region. Hamas has released all of the living hostages it captured on Oct. 7, 2023, regular combat operations have ceased, and Israel has drawn closer to its Arab neighbors. Israel, with crucial support from the United States, has achieved all of this despite concerted efforts from the forces of darkness to prevent it. Hamas, of course, is a longtime client of Iran, which in turn is a client of China. Two years ago, when Hamas invaded Israel — killing 1,200, kidnapping 251, and brutalizing countless others
Taiwan’s first case of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed on Tuesday evening at a hog farm in Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲), trigging nationwide emergency measures and stripping Taiwan of its status as the only Asian country free of classical swine fever, ASF and foot-and-mouth disease, a certification it received on May 29. The government on Wednesday set up a Central Emergency Operations Center in Taichung and instituted an immediate five-day ban on transporting and slaughtering hogs, and on feeding pigs kitchen waste. The ban was later extended to 15 days, to account for the incubation period of the virus
RSS