cable

Taiwan's Coast Guard has escorted a Togo-flagged cargo ship back to An-ping
Harbor, in Tai-nan, as it was suspected of dragging and cutting a submarine
cable between Taiwan proper and outlying Peng-hu.

Coast Guard has detained the freighter, named Hong-tai (宏泰)168, and its 8
Chinese crew pending investigation by the Tainan prosecutors office.

They say they received a report from Chung-hwa Telecom at 3:24 AM this
morning that the Tai-Peng No. 3 cable was probably severed by external force
at 6 nautical miles off of Jiang-jun (將軍) Fishing Port in Tai-nan.

The report came soon after Hong-tai was found anchoring at that location and
made no response when Coast Guard warned it to leave multiple times.

After receiving Chung-hwa Telecom's report, Coast Guard immediately sent two
more patrol boats to bring Hong-tai back on grounds of possible sabotage.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs said the freighter had been loitering near
the broken cable at a distance of about 900 meters from the cable since 7
p.m. on Feb. 22.

(JL)