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Chinese authorities connected Wednesday (December 24, 2025) said 2 Taiwanese citizens led a smuggling cognition involving a Chinese-crewed vas that damaged subsea cables earlier this year.
In June, a Taiwanese tribunal sentenced the Chinese skipper of a Togo-registered ship, the Hong Tai 58, to 3 years successful jailhouse aft uncovering him blameworthy of intentionally damaging undersea cables disconnected Taiwan successful February, successful a lawsuit that alarmed officials successful Taipei.
On Wednesday (December 24, 2025) the nationalist information bureau successful Weihai, successful China’s eastbound Shandong province, said its investigations into the incident showed that 2 Taiwanese men were down a multi-vessel cognition that was illegally transporting frozen goods into China. The authorities’ findings came after interviewing 7 Chinese unit members connected the Hong Tai 58.
China antecedently accused Taiwan of “manipulating” imaginable Chinese engagement successful the case, saying it was making claims earlier the facts were clear.
The Weihai nationalist information bureau issued a bounty of up to 250,000 yuan ($35,569) for information oregon assistance regarding the Taiwanese suspects with the surnames Chien and Chen, adding that they person been connected a Chinese customs bureau wanted database since 2014.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office accused Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party of provoking confrontation, saying Taipei had “ignored the facts of the case” and “maliciously hyped up” the situation.
Taipei is “sheltering and condoning smuggling crimes, utilizing the accidental to transportation retired governmental manipulation and undermine cross-strait relations,” a spokesperson for the office, Peng Qingen, said astatine a play news briefing.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.
Beijing views Taiwan arsenic its ain territory. Taipei rejects that, saying lone the island’s radical tin determine their future.
