Taiwan suspects Chinese ships cut islands’ internet cables

By HUIZHONG WU and JOHNSON LAI
Associated Press

NANGAN, Taiwan (AP) — Residents of Taiwan’s outlying islands near the Chinese coast have been without the internet for the past month. Taiwan’s National Communications Commission blames two Chinese vessels for cutting the cables. Taiwan’s government stopped short of calling it a deliberate act on the part of Beijing and there’s no direct evidence to show the Chinese ships were responsible. Authorities say tracking data shows Chinese ships in the area where the cables were cut. Some experts suspect China may have done it as part of harassment of the self-ruled island it considers its territory. They point to Russia’s destruction of the Ukrainian internet infrastructure as a weapon of war. China regularly sends warplanes and navy ships toward Taiwan to intimidate the island’s democratic government.