Submarine Cable Resilience Enhanced: Ministry of Digital Affairs to Bury Deeper and Add Armor Protection

Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) on the 7th released its first report on submarine cable damage analysis and improvement strategies. The report indicates that in 2025, submarine cable threats showed characteristics of 'nearshore human interference and offshore natural disaster threats,' with anchor damage being the main cause of nearshore damage. MODA stated that it will continue to strengthen proactive defense and resilience building through four major actions: enhancing resilience, establishing multiple redundancies, deepening international cooperation, implementing severe penalties and early warnings, refining physical protection, encouraging new submarine cable construction, and maintaining high-pressure enforcement. The Legislative Yuan's Transportation Committee today invited Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching to report on business conditions and answer questions. Lin Yi-ching pointed out in his report that to implement the digital policy goal of building a digital Taiwan and align with the top-level policy blueprints such as implementing the five major trusted industries and the new ten major AI constructions, MODA will focus on 'promoting AI industry development,' 'strengthening cybersecurity resilience,' 'implementing anti-fraud measures,' and 'strengthening digital government construction' as its four major axes to create an innovative, secure, and people-centric digital nation. To strengthen the resilience of submarine communication cables, Lin Yi-ching stated that MODA, in conjunction with the National Communications Commission, promoted the amendment of Article 72 of the Telecommunications Management Act in 2025, adding provisions for the confiscation and disposal of tools, vessels, or other mechanical equipment used for intentional damage to submarine cables, which was issued and implemented on January 5th of this year. By improving the legal framework, the effectiveness of submarine cable security protection is enhanced. Lin Yi-ching pointed out that telecommunication operators are continuously encouraged to establish new domestic and international submarine cables. The international submarine cable Southeast Asia-Japan 2 Submarine Cable (SJC2) and Apricot cable were put into operation in 2025; domestic submarine cables 'Tai-Ma No. 4,' 'Tai-Peng No. 4,' and 'Peng-Jin No. 4' are expected to be completed in June this year. At the same time, subsidies are also provided to operators to build or expand the capacity of secondary transmission routing systems such as microwave, thereby reducing the impact of cable breaks on communication services by increasing diverse communication routes. Lin Yi-ching stated that newly laid submarine cables will be buried deeper and protected with armor. Monitoring will also be strengthened so that when a submarine cable outage occurs, it can be detected immediately, and repair speed can be accelerated. Afterwards, every effort will be made to find the perpetrators, and if it is found to be intentional, the criminal tools can be confiscated, and penalties will be strengthened. Lin Yi-ching stated that through public-private cooperation mechanisms, telecommunication operators will continue to be guided to strengthen submarine cable landing station protection measures. Last year, four subsidy applications were approved. Starting this year, the scope of subsidies will be further expanded to include measures such as improving submarine cable early warning systems and accelerating cable break repair processes, thereby strengthening pre-warning and post-recovery capabilities. (Edited by Lin Chia-hsien) 1150408