The cutting of a submarine cable outside of the Keelung Harbor earlier this month has led to renewed concerns about Chinese attempts to disrupt telecommunications in Taiwan.
The disruption occurred under suspicious circumstances, with a Chinese cargo vessel suspected of dragging its anchor in an unusual crisscross pattern aimed at cutting the cable. Initial reports named the vessel as the Cameroon-flagged Shunxin-39.
The Chunghwa Telecom notified the Taiwanese Coast Guard Administration that the cable had been cut at 12:40 p.m. on January 3. Chunghwa Telecom, which is one of Taiwan’s major domestic telecom operators, has emphasized that services were not affected after the cable was cut, as back-up systems were in place.
While it is not unusual for vessels to operate under the flag of another nation than their actual nation of origin, the name Shunxin-39 was a giveaway that the vessel was, in fact, of Chinese origin. Moreover, the Shunxin-39 is owned by Jie Yang Trading Limited, a Hong Kong company. Company director Guo Wen-jie is thought to be a Chinese national, due to having a Guangdong address. The crew of the vessel consisted of seven Chinese nationals.
However, there is no vessel registered to the International Maritime Organization by the name of Shunxin-39. The vessel seemed to contain two sets of Automatic Identification System (AIS) equipment. This suggested that the true identity of the vessel was, in fact, the Tanzania-flagged Xing Shun-39. The reverse naming – Shunxin vs Xing Shun – suggested a link between the vessel’s two identities.
Efforts to regulate often murky maritime lawbreaking have often taken aim at vessels that switch off their transponders, potentially to engage in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The focus on IUU fishing as part of maritime law enforcement efforts includes the assumption that vessels involved in such activities could potentially also be implicated in other forms of lawbreaking, such as human trafficking or illegal transhipping – the process of transferring cargo from one ship to another.
It is unusual for a vessel to contain two sets of AIS equipment. The set of AIS equipment that named the vessel as the Shunxin-39 was later found to have been turned off.
An investigation by the Liberty Times, Taiwan’s most widely read newspaper, later indicated that the Shunxin-39 had been present in Taiwan’s territorial waters for three months. The Liberty Times found the vessel’s AIS to have been sporadically turned off, including being switched off shortly before the submarine cable was severed. There was no record of the Shunxin-39 arriving in Keelung, Taiwan’s major northern port, and the vessel’s point of origin is also unknown.
The Taiwanese Coast Guard was unable to board the vessel after the submarine cable was cut, due to weather conditions not allowing for an inspection.
The Taiwanese government has requested cooperation from South Korean authorities in determining the intentions of the vessel, seeing as South Korea is its next destination. Given the vessel’s unclear point of origin and destination, it is not certain if the Shunxin-39 has, in fact, actually set out for South Korea.
