# Taiwan-Matsu subsea cable breaks again; microwave backup keeps Dongyin online
> Cable No. 3 broke ~2.64km off Dongyin in April 2026; Chunghwa Telecom switched 1,500 residents to microwave links as a court jailed a Chinese captain over an earlier cut

**Meta:** type: event · date: 2025-12-24 · heads: Qué se rompió, El juego largo · 9 takes · 3 lenses · 5 regions

## Summary

The Taiwan-Matsu [subsea cable](/es/entity/taiwan-cables) No. 3 broke about 2.64km off Dongyin in
April 2026, knocking out the Beigan-Dongyin segment for ~1,500 residents; Chunghwa Telecom
activated microwave backup so voice and data kept running, and [Taiwan](/es/entity/taiwan)'s Ministry of
Digital Affairs said repairs would finish by end-July, weather permitting. The break is the
latest in a run of Matsu failures Taipei reads as [China](/es/entity/china)n gray-zone pressure: in June
2026 a Taiwanese court jailed the Chinese captain of the Hong Tai 58 for three years for
intentionally damaging cables, while a January incident severed a Taiwan-Asia-US link.
Beijing calls them routine accidents. Taiwan is hardening
[Internet Infrastructure](/es/entity/internet-infrastructure) with microwave and low-Earth-orbit backups.

## By the numbers

- ~2.64 km, distance of the No. 3 break off Dongyin.
- ~1,500, Dongyin residents affected; microwave kept them connected.
- 3 years, sentence for the Hong Tai 58 captain (June 2026 verdict).
- End-July 2026, Chunghwa Telecom's repair target.

## Why it matters

Matsu has become a live laboratory for cable-cutting as coercion and for the backups that
blunt it. The pattern, repeated cuts, Chinese-crewed vessels, Beijing's accident framing, 
is what Taiwan warns could precede a [strait
crisis](/es/n/taiwan-strait-pla-pressure-defense-budget), making redundancy a defence priority.

## What to watch

- Whether repair completes on schedule and any new Matsu or main-island cuts.
- Taiwan's rollout of LEO-satellite and microwave backup beyond Matsu.
- Further prosecutions or new vessel detentions by the coast guard.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### unlabelled
- **Taiwan Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA)** (Taiwan, zh) — MODA's own release on the Taiwan-Matsu subsea cable No. 3 break: activation of backup microwave transmission, the affected Beigan-Dongyin segment, and accelerated repair scheduling by Chunghwa Telecom.
  Source: https://moda.gov.tw/en/press/press-releases/19582
- **Tom's Hardware** (United States, en) — 
  Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/crucial-taiwan-undersea-cable-severed-by-old-shipwreck-backup-microwave-communications-activated-to-keep-population-connected
- **Focus Taiwan** (Taiwan, en) — 
  Source: https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202512090010
- **DIGITIMES** (Taiwan, en) — 
  Source: https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20250122VL205/undersea-cable-taiwan-communications-infrastructure-defense.html
- **Global Taiwan Institute** (United States / Taiwan, en) — 
  Source: https://globaltaiwan.org/2025/06/taiwans-digital-vulnerabilities/
- **Just Security** (United States, en) — 
  Source: https://www.justsecurity.org/113221/chinas-shadow-fleet-war-on-taiwans-undersea-cables/
- **The Conversation** (Australia, en) — 
  Source: https://theconversation.com/chinas-new-underwater-tool-cuts-deep-exposing-vulnerability-of-vital-network-of-subsea-cables-251877

### Taiwanese pro-independence daily
- **Taipei Times** (Taiwan, en) — Reports the cable break and immediate backup activation, situating it in the run of Matsu cable failures Taipei reads as gray-zone pressure even where a specific cause is unproven.
  > "Taiwan activates backup communications for the island after an undersea cable breaks."
  Source: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/04/30/2003856520

### pan-Arab international
- **Al Jazeera** (Qatar, en) — Carries Beijing's competing narrative, a China probe alleging Taiwanese men controlled a cable-cutting ship, illustrating how each side assigns blame across the strait.
  > "China probe finds Taiwanese men controlled ship that cut undersea cables."
  Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/24/china-probe-finds-taiwanese-men-controlled-ship-that-cut-undersea-cables

## Across the graph
- Related: [[taiwan-strait-pla-pressure-defense-budget]], [[syria-subsea-cable-cut]], [[peace-cable-red-sea-cut-2026]], [[south-china-sea-escalation-june2026]]
- Entities: Taiwan Cables, Subsea Cable, Taiwan, China, Internet Infrastructure

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Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/es/n/taiwan-matsu-cable-cut-2026