China blocks internet for Taiwanese islands in latest intimidation tactic to force reunification.

China has been accused of cutting off the internet to one of Taiwan’s outlying islands as part of its latest intimidation tactic to force reunification.

Some living on Matsu, near neighboring China, struggled to pay their electric bills, make a doctor’s appointment or receive a package.

Matsu’s 14,000 residents rely on two undersea internet cables leading to Taiwan’s main island.

The National Communications Commission (NCC), citing the island’s telecommunications service, accused two Chinese ships of cutting the cables.

A Chinese fishing vessel is said to be suspected of cutting the first cable about 50 kilometers (31 miles) out to sea. Six days later, on February 8, a Chinese cargo ship intercepted the second, NCC said.

Telecommunications equipment is seen on a hilltop in Beigan, part of the Matsu Islands, Taiwan on Sunday, March 5, 2023

The Taiwanese government no longer called it a premeditated move by Beijing, and there was no direct evidence that the Chinese ships were responsible.

As the full-scale invasion of Ukraine demonstrated, Russia has made shutting down its Internet infrastructure one of the most important parts of its strategy.

Some experts suggest that China, as part of its harassment of the self-governing island it considers part of its territory, deliberately cut the cables, only to reconnect them by force if necessary.

China regularly sends fighter jets and naval vessels to Taiwan to intimidate the island’s democratic government. Concerns about China’s incursion and Taiwan’s resilience have increased since the war in Ukraine.

The islanders were forced to connect to limited Internet service via microwave radio broadcasting, a more mature technology, as a backup.

This sometimes meant waiting hours for a text message to be sent, dropping calls and stopping watching videos.

“Many tourists will cancel their booking because there is no internet. Nowadays, the Internet plays a very big role in people’s lives,” says Chen, who lives in Beigan, one of Matsu’s main residential islands.

The loss of Internet cables also had serious national security implications.

The cables have been cut 27 times in the past five years, but data from Chunghwa Telecom made it unclear which country the ships came from.

The Taiwan Coast Guard pursued the fishing vessel that cut the first cable on February 2, but it returned to Chinese waters, according to an official with knowledge of the incident who was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. not.

Authorities found two Chinese ships in the area where the cables were cut, based on data from an automatic identification system, similar to GPS, that pinpoints a ship’s location.

“We cannot rule out that China deliberately destroyed it,” said Su Tzu-yun, a defense expert at the government’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, citing research showing that only China and Russia have the technical capability to to do it.

On Tuesday, March 7, 2023, tourists are seen on the street in the shopping area in Nangan, part of the Matsu Islands, Taiwan

Locked ticket machines with signs reading “Due to Internet signal failure, temporary suspension of service” are seen at a ferry terminal in Beigan, part of the Matsu Islands, Taiwan, on Sunday, March 5, 2023.

Off-duty Taiwanese soldiers use their phones at Chunghwa Telecom’s office in Nangan, part of the Matsu Islands, Taiwan, Sunday, March 5, 2023

Tzu-yun added, “Taiwan should invest more resources in repairing and protecting the cables.”

Internet cables, which can range from 20 to 30 millimeters (0.79 to 1.18 in) wide, are sheathed in steel armor in shallow water where they are more likely to encounter ships.

Despite the protection, cables can be cut quite easily by ships and their anchors, or by fishing boats with steel nets.

Still, “such a level of breakage is highly unusual for a cable, even in the shallow waters of the Taiwan Strait,” said Geoff Huston, senior researcher at the Asia Pacific Network Information Center, a nonprofit organization that tracks Internet resources such as IP supply. addresses to the region.

Without stable internet, coffee shop owner Chiu Sih-chi said it was difficult to go to the doctor for his young son’s cold because they had to go to the hospital first to get an appointment.

One breakfast shop owner said she’s lost thousands of dollars in recent weeks taking orders primarily online. Customers came to her stall expecting the food to be ready, even though she didn’t even see her messages.

Faced with unusual problems, the citizens of Matsu invented all kinds of ways to organize their lives.

A couple wanted to cope with the upcoming high season by allowing one person to stay in Taiwan to access their reservation system and share the information with the other via SMS.

Some enterprising locals have crossed over to buy SIM cards from Chinese telecommunications companies, although they only work close to the Chinese coast, which is only 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) from the nearest point.

Others, like bed and breakfast owner Tsao Li-yu, went to Chunghwa Telecom’s office to use a Wi-Fi hotspot the company has since set up for local use.

Wang Chung Ming, head of Lienchiang County, as the Matsu Islands are officially known, said he and Matsu lawmakers went to Taipei shortly after the internet outage to ask for help and were told they were given priority in any future internet backup plan.

Lienchiang County chief Wang Chung Ming speaks during an interview in Nangan, part of Matsu Islands, Taiwan, Monday, March 6, 2023

Local B&B owner Tsao Li-yu works in the lobby of his company, which has no customers, on Tuesday March 7, 2023 in Nangan, part of Matsu Islands, Taiwan

Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs has publicly solicited bids from low-Earth orbit satellite operators to provide Internet in a backup plan after witnessing Russian cyberattacks during the invasion of Ukraine, the ministry’s head, Audrey, said. told The Washington Post last fall. But the plan remains blocked because a law in Taiwan requires the sellers to be at least 51 percent owned by a local shareholder.

A spokesperson for the Department of Digital Affairs asked the National Communications Commission (NCC) questions about the progress of the backup plans.

NCC said it will install a monitoring system for the submarine cables, which relies on microwave transmission as a backup option.

Many Pacific island countries relied on satellites for backup before the advent of internet cable – and some still do – says Jonathan Brewer, a New Zealand telecommunications consultant who works in Asia and the Pacific.

There is also the issue of cost. The cables are expensive to repair, with an early estimate of $30 million (US$1 million) for the ships’ labor alone.

“The Chinese boats that damaged the cables must be held accountable and compensated for the very expensive repairs,” said Wen Lii, chairman of the Matsu branch of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Wang, head of Lienchiang County, said he mentioned the cables during a recent visit to China, where he met with a China Mobile executive. They offered to send technicians to help. But compensation, he said, requires hard evidence of whoever did it.

Now residents can only wait. The earliest cable-laying ships can arrive is April 20 as there are a limited number of ships that can do the work.

A month without a working internet also has its advantages. Chen Yu-lin, the owner of the bed and breakfast, feels more comfortable.

The first week was difficult, but Chen got used to it quickly. “From a life perspective, I think it’s much more comfortable because you get fewer calls,” he said, adding that he spends more time with his son, who mostly plays online games.

In a web cafe where off-duty soldiers played offline games, the effect was the same.

“Our ties have gotten a little closer,” said one soldier, who gave only his first name, Samuel. “Because when there’s the Internet, everyone usually keeps to themselves, and now we’re better connected.”