China could easily trigger Taiwan data blackout: expertBy Hollie Younger / Staff writer, with CNAIf China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. China has deliberately targeted Taiwan's undersea cables as part of its expanding “gray zone” warfare toolkit, with a notable and alarming escalation since 2023, Hsu said in his testimony. In peacetime, average cable repair time exceeds 40 days, he said, adding that Taiwan has no indigenous cable repair ships. Hsu recommended actions to Congress, including passing the Taiwan Undersea Cable Resilience Initiative Act, introduced in July last year, investing in cable repair capacity and increasing sanctions on vessels that cut cables. Meanwhile, Taiwan should build domestic cable repair capacity, ideally with Japan, and its coast guard should expand vessel watch lists and patrols near critical cable corridors, he said.

Source: Taipei Times March 03, 2026 14:55 UTC