Taiwanese authorities and some analysts say the Chinese vessel, which operates under two different flags, could be carrying out China’s gray zone operations against Taiwan

Taiwan has accused a Chinese-owned ship of severing a critical data cable off its northern coast on Friday. Officials in Taipei discovered that four cores of an international submarine cable, which transmits data to America’s AT&T, were left ruptured early on Jan 3.

After several submarine cable failures in the Baltic Sea, Taiwan has now been hit. The island state suspects a freighter that has already left its waters.

Taiwan's coast guard said it sent a ship to investigate a report on Friday from telecoms provider Chunghwa Telecom that an undersea communications cable had been damaged off the island's north coast.

Taiwanese authorities are investigating the severing of an undersea telecommunications cable near the island's northern coast, suspecting the involvement of a Cameroon-registered cargo ship with the Chinese name Shunxin-39.

The incident raises concern China will try to cut all undersea cables to Taiwan in the event of a military invasion, so Taiwan is racing to develop a satellite-based internet service.

Taiwan suspects China of being behind damage to a crucial subsea communications cable just off its northern coast, which occurred last week.