Taiwan and China traded barbs over what the government in Taipei suspects was a Chinese-linked ship's damage to an undersea communications cable off the island's coast, an incident that has raised alarm bells on the island.

Taiwan has accused a Chinese-owned ship of severing a critical data cable off its northern coast on Friday. Officials in Taipei discovered that four cores of an international submarine cable, which transmits data to America’s AT&T, were left ruptured early on Jan 3.

In 2023, the outlying Matsu Islands, within view of the Chinese coast, endured patchy internet for months after two undersea internet cables broke. These fiber optic cables that connect Taiwan to the internet suffered about 30 such breaks between 2017 and 2023.

Taiwan suspects that China was behind the cutting of an international undersea telecom cable early Friday morning.

Taiwan's coast guard said it sent a ship to investigate a report on Friday from telecoms provider Chunghwa Telecom that an undersea communications cable had been damaged off the island's north coast.

Recently, a Chinese vessel damaged underwater cables off the coast of Taiwan. The incident has heightened tensions between the countries, reports Reuters. Taiwan's Coast Guard suspects that a Chinese vessel damaged a cable off the island's northern coast at the end of last week.

By bno - Taipei Bureau Taiwan’s investigation into damage to an undersea communications cable has sparked heightened tensions, with a Chinese-registered vessel emerging as a key figure in the case. The incident,