This is the latest in a series of incidents in recent years in which undersea Taiwanese cables have been damaged — with Taipei in some instances blaming China. Earlier this year, a Chinese cargo ship was suspected of severing a link northeast of the island.

The Coast Guard said it was investigating how the cable was severed and said it could not rule out the possibility of sabotage.

Taiwan detained a Chinese-crewed cargo ship on Tuesday after a subsea telecoms cable was severed off the island, the coast guard said. It is the latest in a series of Taiwanese undersea cable breakages,