(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Taiwan fights back against Chinese cable cutting - charges filed against Hong Tai 58 captain [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-04-11

I wrote about the cable cutting incident that happened on Feb.25th. The ship was something of a mystery as the ship had Hong Tai 168 painted on its sides, but the ship's transponder was giving out Hong Tai 58, and the crew identified themselves as the Hong Tai 168.

In looking up the Hong Tai 58, I found another ship with the same International Maritime Organization (IMO) number, which should be impossible.

The new news is that the captain of the ship is being charged for intentionally dragging the ship's anchor and cutting the fiber optic telecommunications cable.

This is the first time the Taiwanese have charged anyone for intentionally cutting a cable when there have been 10 cuttings before this.

The No. 3 cable was the one cut.

Prosecutors in the city of Tainan only identify the man by his family name Wang.

Wang said he is innocent, but he refused to give any details of the ship's owner. Prosecutors say the man has a "bad attitude."

The ship's owners are another mystery that I investigated in my first story. The name listed, doesn't exist from any method I've ever used in tracking down ships and ships owners. The only possible link is that the real owners were Cosco Shipping Leasing. What Costco does is buy ships from a company and then turns right around and leases it back to the same company, giving the company working capital. This was the best that I could figure out from the multiple companies, the multiple ships that don't exist, the commercial managers and the International Safety Management managers. Nothing about this ship adds up whether it's as the Hong Tai 58 or the Hong Tai 168. The only thing actually known about the ship is that it flies the flag of Togo.

The Taipai Times found that besides another ship having the same IMO number, the Hong Tai 58 itself has two. Also the Maritime Mobile Service Identity was used by two other ships, the Jin Long 389, which I had tracked down, but also the Hong Da 8. The MMSI number is linked to a total of six other ships.

It appears the Hong Tai 58, the Hong Da 8 and the Jin Long 389 are all the same ship.

Besides the captain, seven other Chinese nationals who were held will be sent back to China.

In the CNN article that caught my attention, they say Reuters was unable to determine the ship's owners. That's because it's impossible to find.

The Hong Tai 58 had been "lingering" in the area of the cable since Feb.22nd. Prosecutors say that Wang ordered his crew to drop anchor 5 miles west of Tainan and sail in a zig-zag pattern until it finally caught and cut the cable.

The Taiwan Coast Guard, CGA, apparently found the ship's electronic navigational chart showing the locations of various cables.

Wang is being held incommunicado. The crime he's being charged with has a penalty of one to seven years with a fine of up to NT$10 million (US $305,764).

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to requests for comment. Big surprise. China's standard response to accusations of their involvement say that the Taiwanese are casting aspersions at them.

Taiwan has pointed out the similarities between what has happened to them by the Chinese, and what has happened to Baltic States by Russian shadow fleet ships cutting cables by dragging anchors.

Charging the captain is a step forward for Taiwan with the constant attempts by China to rattle Taiwan with military maneuvers at sea, plane flights into their airspace and cyber warfare. This hybrid warfare of cable cutting is part of their playbook.

Just last month China showed off a new cutting cutting tool, like a diamond edge tile cutter, that could operate at depths of 13,000 feet. They also showed off a huge submersible that could, or did carry it. The description said that it had been tested on cables 60mm thick. Why would you need such a device, except to cause communications disruption?

The Chinese know the anchor dragging ploy won't work if Taiwan devotes the resources needed, like slow flying planes, detectors on sea buoys, enough ships to shadow Chinese ships they've blacklisted as suspect, drones and the like.

Things aren't going to get better. China keeps pushing the envelope to see how far they can go. This time, they got caught. The only way to find the ship's owner is to follow the money. Who paid for the fuel the ship uses at the last port? What account paid the crew? Where did the payments for having cargo carried go to?

That's the only way they're going to find out this time. So far, no lawyer has shown up to represent the ship owners.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/4/11/2315956/-Taiwan-fights-back-against-Chinese-cable-cutting-charges-filed-against-Hong-Tai-58-captain?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/