【Epoch Times News on July 11, 2025】 A Chinese-backed Togolese-registered cargo ship “Hongtai 58” was accused of dragging and breaking Taiwan’s Peng No. 3 submarine cable on February 25. The Taiwan Tainan District Court sentenced the Chinese captain to three years in prison. Experts suggest that the government should amend the law to increase penalties, and ship management companies should accurately declare information about foreign principals.
The “Hongtai 58” cargo ship was allegedly involved in breaking the Peng No. 3 submarine cable on February 25. The Chinese captain surnamed Wang was detained and denied visits. The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office concluded the investigation on April 11 and filed a public prosecution, transferring the case to the Tainan District Court for trial, asking the court to impose appropriate penalties. Seven crew members were deported in April as they were not implicated in the crime. The Chinese captain surnamed Wang denied the charges and refused to disclose the mastermind behind the incident. The Tainan District Court sentenced him to three years in prison on June 12, with the option to appeal.
Prosecutor Xu Shuhan of the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office wrote an article titled “Investigation Experience on the Destruction of Taiwan’s Submarine Cable in the Chinese-backed cargo ship case” in the June issue of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Monthly Magazine. He pointed out that on February 2 and 8, 2023, the Taiwan-Ma No. 2 and No. 3 submarine cables were suspected to have been damaged by mainland Chinese fishing vessels and dredgers, and on January 3, 2025, in the sea northeast of Yehliu, the international submarine cable was again suspected to have been damaged by a Chinese-backed Cameroon-registered cargo ship.
Xu Shuhan mentioned that the “Hongtai 58” cargo ship used electronic nautical charts combined with Automatic Identification System (AIS), which clearly marked the location of Taiwan’s submarine cables in red lines. By integrating the AIS signal track map and the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Office ship bulletin, it could be inferred that Captain Wang knew about the submarine cables in the area and the anchoring prohibition but still dropped the anchor without securing the anchor chain, allowing the vessel to drag in a zigzag pattern deliberately. This demonstrates intentional behavior rather than mere negligence, constituting subjective uncertainty about intent.
Xu Shuhan suggested that if the prosecution authorities could establish a communication platform with the Coast Guard Administration and Chunghwa Telecom and cooperate closely to negotiate prevention plans and contingency measures, including providing evidence and verifying evidence after the incident or enacting laws to establish provisions for witnesses with criminal records and increase statutory penalties to deter crime, prosecute and sentence criminal offenders swiftly, would be directions to consider for the future.
He stated that during the investigation process, the prosecution boarded the “Hongtai 58” to inspect the vessel and found severe corrosion on the ship’s hull and machinery. Additionally, the ship’s equipment was rudimentary, seemingly not suitable for safe navigation, with low residual value. It cannot be ruled out that such vessels are tools disposed of after committing crimes once. It is recommended to require ship management companies to truthfully provide the identity information of the principal when filing for declaration to reduce the chances of these disposable vessels sailing in Taiwanese waters.