A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed.
Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year.
Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of the world.
Photo: Courtesy of HiFleet and Vessel Finder
The owners of the Shunxing-39 in November last year retroactively declared that the ship on Sept. 28 had departed from South Korea’s Busan for the Port of Keelung, according to China-based My Ship Tracking.
Keelung had no record of the freighter’s arrival.
The China-based HiFleet showed that the Shunxing-39 transited the Taiwan Strait on Sept. 28 and moved toward China’s Guangdong Province without approaching Keelung.
The ship did not stop in any ports before returning to its unknown point of origin.
Records from ship trackers indicated that the freighter on Oct. 10 entered the northern bounds of Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which is 24 nautical miles (44km) from its coast, sporadically deactivating its automatic identification systems.
The ship’s transponders remained deactivated for minutes to several hours each time.
The following day, the Shunxing-39 sailed toward 26° north latitude before changing course.
On Oct. 19, the ship’s transponder signal vanished about 9 nautical miles west of Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼) and reappeared in the same area on Dec. 5, making circles.
The Shunxing-39 on Friday last week crossed into the nation’s 12-nautical-mile territorial waters and turned off its automatic identification system again following reports of damage to the undersea cable.
The captain of the Chinese ship later told the Coast Guard Administration that it would return to South Korea, which cannot be verified, as its transponder has remained disengaged.
The Chinese cargo ship traveled 439 nautical miles with an average speed of 3.07 knots (5.7kph) without interference from the navy or the coast guard, records showed.
The navy’s and the coast guard’s new protocol is to use the 24-nautical-mile line to divide their areas of responsibility, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The navy would be responsible for detecting large ships outside of that area, while coast guard radar would monitor the waters inside, it said.
Taiwan should use buoys to mark the waters within 50m of Internet cables as a restricted zone to guard them, former navy squadron commander Jiang Hsin-biao (江炘杓) said in a recent newsletter published by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
Repeated incidents involving damage to undersea cables show the importance of using satellites and microwave links to ensure access to key communications systems, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
FUKUOKA SITUATION: Japanese media reported that the pathogen is expected to be identified by the summer, while the CDC downplayed the idea that it was hMPV A “mysterious cold-like illness” reported in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture does not seem to be a new disease, but Japanese authorities have been asked about the situation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The Fukuoka Prefectural Medical Association on Wednesday told a news conference that a “mystery cold” that has become a hot topic on social media is “highly likely to be caused by some kind of viral infection,” Japan’s KBC News reported. “Many people are experiencing symptoms starting with a sore throat, followed by a runny nose, phlegm and a severe cough,” KBC News reported, citing association officials. Health authorities are
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of upcoming AI and technology events, saying he plans to meet with clients and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) during his visit. After landing at Taipei Songshan Airport, Huang posed for photos with fans and handed out Yakult drinks to reporters and supporters waiting at the scene, saying he has “a lot to do” during the trip. Asked about reports that Nvidia’s planned headquarters site in Taipei’s Beitou Shilin Technology Park could break ground on May 27, Huang said that if the company holds an event, he would
The Ministry of Finance this afternoon announced the winning numbers for the March-April uniform invoice lottery. The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$318,060) special prize is 19531471, and the winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 85941329. Three numbers were drawn for the NT$200,000 first prize: 07225810, 20231230 and 83518781. Those with receipts matching the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers will win the NT$40,000 second prize, while those matching the last six digits will win the NT$10,000 third prize. Those whose receipts match the last five digits of the first-prize numbers can claim the NT$4,000 fourth prize,
Taiwan Travelogue (臺灣漫遊錄), which earlier this week became the first Taiwanese novel to win the International Booker Prize, is to be adapted into a television series through a Taiwan-Japan coproduction, producer Chang Chen-yu (張辰漁) said yesterday. Chang, a producer at World Softest Production Film Co, wrote on Facebook that the company had been searching for projects with international appeal that retain a strong Taiwanese identity after colleagues and Japanese partners strongly recommended the novel. After reading the book, Chang said he immediately decided to pursue the screen rights. “A great story has the power to transcend time and borders, and connect countless people,”
RSS