(Taipei Reuters) connecting two submarine cables connecting Taiwan ’s island and its outer island Matsu, which has not been fixed after being cut off last month.Experts and officials point out that even in a peaceful period, Taiwan cannot quickly repair key cables and lacks appropriate spare communication satellites, causing hidden safety hazards.
According to Reuters, the two underwater communication cables connecting the Matsulands and the islands of Taiwan were cut off in February this year, and more than 14,000 residents on the island were interrupted.Because there are very few ships in the area in the area, residents must not fully restore network services until late April.
A senior Taiwanese official who is familiar with security affairs said that the vulnerability of the seal cable has always been a long -term security issue in Taiwan, and the official has not improved in this regard.With the full outbreak of the Ukrainian war, Taiwan ’s communication security guarantee is also imminent. In particular, it is reported that mainland China may take the lead in cutting off or attacking Taiwan’ s 14 submarine cables that connect Taiwan to the world.
Zeng Yishuo, an analyst at the analyst at the Supreme Military Tank National Institute of Defense Safety, said: "Especially after the Ukrainian incident, whether it is inside or outside, strategic communication makes us overnight."
In order to improve communication security, Taiwan has focused on the use of low -orbital global satellites as a solution and launched a two -year test plan to improve Internet services through international satellite suppliers.
However, Huang Shengxiong, director and CEO of the Taiwan Network Information Center, said that the total bandwidth of satellites only accounts for 0.02 % of Taiwan's submarine cable.Taiwan has always been difficult to attract international satellite companies, because strict ownership regulations limit the shares that foreign companies can owns at 49 %, and lack of financial benefits.
There are national defense experts that although Taiwan can learn from Ukraine's experience, after the outbreak of the war, use the "Starlink" satellite communication system developed by the global richest man Musk's SpaceX (SpaceX), but they are right.This businessman who enjoys huge commercial interests in mainland China is deeply worried.Musk is also the CEO of the US electric vapor giant Tesla. Mainland China is an important manufacturing base and sales market for the company.
The Taiwan Digital Development Department said in a statement that it will give priority to the satellite test plan on the offshore islands of Taiwan, and will further increase the microwave communication bandwidth with the outlying islands by the end of the year.The department did not comment on maritime cables or repair cables.
