In a first Taiwan charges Chinese ship captain with damaging undersea cables

TAIPEI – For the first time, Taiwan prosecutors on April 11 charged a Chinese ship captain with intentionally damaging undersea cables off the island in February, after a rise in sea cable malfunctions alarmed Taiwan officials amid tensions with China.

Prosecutors said the man was captain of the Chinese-crewed Hong Tai 58, registered in Togo, which the Taiwanese authorities detained after suspecting the ship had dropped anchor near an undersea cable off south-western Taiwan, damaging it.

The prosecutors’ office in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan said they had charged the Chinese captain, whom they identified by only his family name Wang, with being responsible for damaging the cable.

Wang has said he is innocent, but refused to provide details of the ship’s owner and “had a bad attitude”, the prosecutors said in a statement.

Seven other Chinese nationals detained at the same time will not be charged and will be transported to China, prosecutors said, adding that the case was the island’s first prosecution over damaging sea cables.

Reuters was not able to determine the ship’s ownership or immediately locate a lawyer representing the captain.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China has previously accused Taiwan of “manipulating” possible Chinese involvement in the case, saying it was casting aspersions before the facts were clear.

The cable damage has come on top of China’s military activities around Taiwan, including war games, the latest of which Beijing held last week.

On April 11, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said it detected 21 Chinese military aircraft operating near the island, taking part in a “joint combat readiness drill” with Chinese warships, something Taipei routinely reports.

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Taiwan has reported five cases of sea cable malfunctions in 2025, compared with three each in 2024 and 2023, according to