Taiwan has identified 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience that require close monitoring if detected near the nation, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, as the nation seeks to protect its subsea telecoms cables.
The stricter regime comes after a Cameroon-flagged vessel was briefly detained by the CGA earlier this month on suspicion of damaging an international cable northeast of Taiwan.
The vessel is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company with a Chinese address given for its only listed director, the CGA said previously.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration via CNA
Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt to seize the nation or blockade it.
Flags of convenience allow shipping companies to register their vessels in countries to which they have no link -- for a fee and freedom from oversight.
The CGA said 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience from Mongolia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Togo and Sierra Leone had been highlighted for close monitoring based on port records and data from Tokyo MOU, a regional multilateral body for port state control.
Of the 52 vessels, 15 were rated a “threat” for various reasons — including the amount of time they spent loitering or sailing slowly near Taiwan’s subsea cables last year.
Five, considered to pose the greatest threat, had been active in Taiwan’s northern, western and southern waters, and had stayed “within Taiwan’s territorial waters for more than 15 days,” the CGA said in a statement.
The CGA said it would monitor for “anomalies” in a ship’s automatic identification system operation and “fake or misuse of vessel names.”
Vessels suspected of “loitering, slow navigation or anchoring” near subsea cables would be warned by radio to leave the area, the CGA said.
“If the vessel does not comply, coast guard ships will be dispatched to collect evidence and drive the vessel away,” it said. “Boarding inspections will be conducted when necessary to safeguard Taiwan’s maritime and international communications security.”
Taiwan has 14 international underwater cables and 10 domestic ones.
In February 2023, two telecom lines serving outlying Lienchiang County (Matsu) were cut, disrupting communications for weeks.
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