Two undersea cables connecting Lienchiang County (Matsu) with Taiwan proper were disrupted due to “natural deterioration” and could be repaired by next month, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today.
The No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cable was obstructed on Wednesday last week, and the No. 2 Taiwan-Matsu cable was disrupted this morning at 5am, Chunghwa Telecom said today.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs held a news conference at 11am to explain the situation.
Photo: Taipei Times
Chunghwa Telecom activated microwave communications within one hour of the second cable’s disruption at the ministry’s request, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Chiueh Her-ming (闕河鳴) said.
Communications should not be impacted, as the current microwave bandwidth is 12.6Gbps, which is higher than Matsu’s daily peak bandwidth of 9.5Gbps, Chiueh said.
Bandwidth would be prioritized for essential public services such as government agencies, banks and hospitals to ensure they are not disrupted, he said.
During the Lunar New Year holiday, people could still withdraw money from ATMs and online transactions would remain uninterrupted, he added.
The ministry has nine asynchronous satellite devices in Matsu that would serve as backup microwave channels for the Lienchiang County Government, Chiueh said.
No “suspicious” ships were detected when the cables went offline, he said.
Natural deterioration was the likely cause, but cases of ships damaging Taiwan's sea cables have risen in recent years, he added.
So far this year, Taiwan has reported four cases of disruptions in undersea cables, compared with only three both last year and in 2023, Chiueh said.
In 2023, the two undersea cables connecting Lienchiang were cut, disconnecting the Internet.
Authorities said two Chinese vessels caused the disruption, but that there was no evidence that Beijing deliberately tampered with the cables.
Taiwan has since worked to boost its communication resilience for emergencies including a conflict with China, such as a trial program to use low-Earth orbit satellites for remote areas including Lienchiang.
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
RSS