TPKM3 - Cable Damage

Around 5 a.m. on 22 January 2025, the Taiwan-Matsu No. 2 undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to the outlying Matsu (Lienchiang County) islands was disconnected. It followed the failure of the companion Taiwan-Matsu No. 3 cable (part of the Taiwan-Penghu-Kinmen-Matsu No. 3 / TPKM3 system) on 15 January, leaving both domestic links to Matsu down. Operator Chunghwa Telecom switched to a microwave backup providing up to 12.6 Gbps, supplemented by satellite dishes, to maintain service to the islands. The No. 2 cable was restored by 11:40 a.m. on 22 January after core-by-core testing, while No. 3 repairs continued.

Chunghwa Telecom and the Ministry of Digital Affairs attributed both Matsu faults to natural deterioration and strong currents rather than vessel strikes, and the Coast Guard Administration said radar review found no evidence of suspicious ship behaviour. The episode formed part of an unprecedented run of Taiwanese cable faults in early 2025, four in January alone, versus roughly three in all of the prior year, that heightened concern over gray-zone threats. Suspicion of deliberate damage attached more directly to a separate 3 January cut of the international Trans-Pacific Express cable off Tamsui, which authorities investigated as possible sabotage by a China-linked freighter, though such attribution often went unproven.

This specific 22 January Matsu-cable failure was officially classed as natural deterioration, with no vessel evidence found, so it should not be read as confirmed sabotage. Its significance is contextual: it added to a cluster of early-2025 outages that strained Taiwan's island connectivity and amplified fears of Chinese gray-zone pressure on undersea infrastructure. Where vessel involvement was suspected elsewhere in this period, Taiwanese investigators repeatedly struggled to prove intent, given flag-of-convenience and shadow-fleet complications. The incident therefore best illustrates Taiwan's digital-resilience vulnerability and ambiguous attribution rather than a demonstrated attack.