Taiwan Looks To Ramp Up Defense Against Cable, Pipeline Sabotage

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan’s Cabinet has rolled out a series of draft amendments to infrastructure and port regulations aimed at deterring undersea cable sabotage through penalties, with some saying there could be more preventive measures alongside punishments. It follows numerous incidents of cable damage over the past year involving either suspected or confirmed links to China.

Transcript

00:00undersea cables and pipelines crucial to everyday life here in Taiwan have been

00:07repeatedly damaged in recent years there have been two cases this year of damage

00:13linked to China with one of them becoming the first criminal case of its

00:17kind Taiwan's government is taking the next step to address what it calls

00:21China's gray zone tactics on Thursday the cabinet passed a series of amendments

00:27to seven existing infrastructure regulation laws including communications natural gas water and weather monitoring

00:34they aim to protect the undersea cables and pipelines that connect these services to land and boost deterrence

00:40因为我们目前的电信管理法关于电信的海染的保护本来就比较完整

00:47那这里包含故意的情形包含故意以后又有一些加重的类型包含未睡饭的情形

00:55那另外呢也有过失犯的情形所以所有想象得到的情形通通都包含了

01:02它唯一欠缺的是没收的制度没收的制度所以我们这一次再把没收制度给它补齐

01:10under the telecommunications management act perpetrators could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison

01:17and be fined over 330 thousand US dollars

01:21what the cabinet now wants is to apply those same punishments to other violations

01:26plus allow authorities to confiscate the ships or tools used to damage the cables

01:31all vessels sailing through the taiwan strait would be penalized if they refuse to identify themselves

01:36or if they operate in disguise

01:38the port authorities would also bed loitering vessels from docking

01:43大家知道禁止入港最重要的就是你没办法运补

01:47你没办法整补

01:48你要修船你要进货

01:51没有入港是做不到的

01:53当你没有办法入港的时候你就没有办法在外海长期的滞留

01:57因此这是一个非常有效的一个源头贺阻

02:02台湾的 communication cables are especially vulnerable to damage

02:06of 24 existing cables 10 are domestic

02:09which have been the main target of sabotage in all confirmed cases

02:13and 14 are international

02:16the number of damaged undersea cables connecting Taiwan's main island to outlying islands

02:21reached a record 12 cases in 2023

02:24and one expert warns of unreported cases

02:27这个具体的数字呢事实上会更高

02:31因为海兰的这个断裂或是说它需要这个整修

02:37事实上是属于营业秘密相关这个电缆公司的营业秘密

02:41所以我们在这个新闻上看到的数字是远低于这个实际可能有意外或说人为破坏的这个数字

02:53One non-profit group says instead of punishment more can be done to alert authorities at sea

02:59可以连进一个高敏感区域的水域

03:02提高整个监控机制强化横向的管理

03:06比如说当它有船舶接近这个高敏感区域的时候

03:09我们是不是直接透过这个无线电电通报

03:13那我们防卫的机制就可以提前开始运作

03:17比如说海巡

03:18甚至于海军在外海就可以开始

03:21如果在临近海军巡航的区域呢

03:24就可以发出一些预警的措施

03:26The cabinet's draft will need the legislature's approval before it can become law

03:31but as tensions remain high in the Taiwan Strait

03:33any more interference with these cables may lead to further escalation

03:38Eason Pan and Irene Lin for Taiwan Plus

03:41嗯

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