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Taiwan Sentences Chinese Captain to Three Years Over Subsea Cable Damage

The verdict marks Taiwan’s first criminal punishment of a foreign ship captain in response to rising offshore cable incidents.

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Coast Guard Special Task Unit (STU), an elite unit within the Taiwanese Coast Guard Administration, responsible for high-risk operations like counter-terrorism, anti-smuggling, and air-sea rescue, prepare to board a "hijacked" vessel taking part in the "Sea Safety No.12" exercises during a maritime drill in Kaohsiung on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Yu Chen CHENG / AFP) (Photo by YU CHEN CHENG/AFP via Getty Images)
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Overview

  • A Tainan district court found Captain Wang guilty of severing an undersea telecom cable off southwestern Taiwan in February and sentenced him to three years in prison.
  • Wang led the Togolese-registered, Chinese-crewed cargo ship Hong Tai 58, which was detained after prosecutors concluded its dropped anchor breached prohibited waters and cut the cable linking the Penghu archipelago.
  • The captain acknowledged ordering the anchor drop but denied intentional wrongdoing, attributing the break to negligence and reserving the right to appeal.
  • Seven other crew members were deported without charges after prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence against them.
  • Taiwan’s digital ministry recorded five sea cable malfunctions in 2025, up from three in each of the two previous years, and Chunghwa Telecom spent over NT$17 million on repairs.