Undersea cables serving Taiwan are damaged in a series of incidents, including the severing of both cables to the Matsu islands in 2023 and further cases in 2025 in which Taiwanese authorities detained or investigated vessels. Attribution has been contested in most cases, and cable damage from fishing gear and anchors is common worldwide.
Why it mattersThese incidents made civil-infrastructure vulnerability concrete and exposed the attribution problem that defines this category: deliberate damage is cheap to attempt, hard to prove and easy to deny. Taiwan's response — faster repair arrangements, an international cable-resilience initiative and investment in satellite backup — is the clearest example in the module of resilience as a response to pressure.
Confidence: ModerateSources: Reuters — Taiwan and China coverage · Taiwan Presidential Office and Executive Yuan statementsMethodologyCorrections