3 Inside Taiwan's fight to protect its vital undersea cables Taipei fears key communication infrastructure is vulnerable to Chinese interference CHENG TING-FANG, LAULY LI and THOMPSON CHAU SEPTEMBER 10, 2025 Ruan Jhong-Cing, chief officer of the Taiwanese coast guard patrol boat PP-10079, recalled battling gale-force winds and towering waves on a chilly night in February when his crew finally spotted a suspicious cargo ship that had been lingering in the outer waters off the city of Tainan for several days. "We warned the ship several times by marine radio that subsea cables are right underneath the waters and ordered it to leave," Ruan told Nikkei Asia in the first public account of the incident. The patrol fleet reached the area at 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 25 and, amid crashing waves, identified the cargo ship as the Hong Tai 168, even though the vessel was registered as the Hong Tai 58. This discovery put the patrol crew on high alert, according to Ruan. Some 30 minutes ...