Taiwan is investigating whether a ship linked to China is responsible for damaging one of the undersea cables that connects Taiwan to the internet, the latest reminder of how vulnerable Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is to damage from China.

The incident comes as anxiety in Europe has risen over apparent acts of sabotage, including ones aimed at such undersea communication cables. Two fiber-optic cables under the Baltic Sea were severed in November, prompting officials from Sweden, Finland and Lithuania to halt a Chinese-flagged commercial ship in the area for weeks over its possible involvement.

In Taiwan, communications were quickly rerouted after the damage was detected, and there was no major outage. The island’s main telecommunications provider, Chunghwa Telecom, received a notification on Friday morning that the cable, known as the Trans-Pacific Express Cable, had been damaged. That cable also connects to South Korea, Japan, China and the United States.

That afternoon, Taiwan’s Coast Guard intercepted a cargo vessel off the northern city of Keelung, in an area near where half a dozen cables make landfall. The vessel was owned by a Hong Kong company and crewed by seven Chinese nationals, the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration said.

The damaged cable is one of more than a dozen that help keep Taiwan online. These fragile cables are susceptible to breakage by anchors dragged along the sea floor by the many ships in the busy waters around Taiwan.

Analysts and officials say that while it is difficult to prove whether damage to these cables is intentional, such an act would fit a pattern of intimidation and psychological warfare by China directed at weakening Taiwan’s defenses.

Taiwan said the cargo vessel it intercepted had registered under the flags of both Cameroon and Tanzania. “The possibility of a Chinese flag-of-convenience ship engaging in gray zone harassment cannot be ruled out,” the Coast Guard Administration said on Monday in a statement.

Such harassment, which inconveniences Taiwanese forces but stops short of overt confrontation, has a desensitizing effect over time, according to Yisuo Tzeng, a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a think tank funded by Taiwan’s defense ministry. That puts Taiwan at risk of being caught off guard in the event of a real conflict, Mr. Tzeng said.

Taiwan experiences near-daily incursions into its waters and airspace by the People’s Liberation Army. Last month, China sent nearly 90 naval and coast guard vessels into waters in the area, its largest such operation in almost three decades.

China has also deployed militarized fishing boats and its coast guard fleet in disputes around the South China Sea region, and stepped up patrols just a few miles off the shore of Taiwan’s outer islands, increasing the risk of dangerous confrontations.

Such harassment has been a “defining marker of Chinese coercion against Taiwan for decades, but over the last couple years has really stepped up,” said Gregory Poling, the director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

And in situations like this one and the recent damage to the cables under the Baltic Sea, it is difficult for the authorities to calibrate their response when a ship’s true identity is uncertain.

“Do you deploy a Coast Guard vessel every time there is an illegal sand dredger or, in this case, a ship that is registered to a flag of convenience and has Chinese ties damages a submarine cable?” Mr. Poling asked.

Ship tracking data and vessel records analyzed by The Times show that the ship may have been broadcasting its positions under a fake name.

Taiwan said the ship appeared to use two sets of Automatic Identification System equipment, which is used to broadcast a ship’s position. On Jan. 3, at the moment that Taiwan said the cable was damaged, a ship named Shun Xing 39 was reporting its AIS positions in the waters off Taiwan’s northeastern coast.

About nine hours later, at around 4:51 p.m. local time, Shun Xing 39 stopped transmitting location data. That was shortly after the time that the Taiwan Coast Guard said it had located the ship and requested that it return to waters outside of Keelung port for an investigation.

One minute later, and 50 feet away, a ship called Xing Shun 39, which had not reported a position since late December, began broadcasting a signal, according to William Conroy, a maritime analyst in Wildwood, Mo., with Semaphore Maritime Solutions, who analyzed AIS data on the ship-tracking platform Starboard.

In the ship-tracking database, both Xing Shun 39 and Shun Xing 39 identify themselves as cargo ships with a class A AIS transponder. Typically, a cargo ship equipped with this class of transponder would be large enough to require registration with the International Maritime Organization and obtain a unique identification number known as an IMO number. Xing Shun 39 has an IMO number, but Shun Xing 39 does not appear in the IMO database. This suggests “Xing Shun 39” is the ship’s real identity and “Shun Xing 39” is fake, according to Mr. Conroy.

The Taiwan Coast Guard has publicly identified the vessel as Shun Xing 39, and said the ship used two AIS systems.

Vessel and corporate records show that Jie Yang Trading Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company, took over as the owner of Xing Shun 39 in April 2024.

The waves were too large to board the cargo vessel to investigate further, the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration said. Taiwan is seeking help from South Korea because the crew of the cargo vessel said it was headed to that country, the administration said.

In 2023, the outlying Matsu Islands, within view of the Chinese coast, endured patchy internet for months after two undersea internet cables broke. These fiber optic cables that connect Taiwan to the internet suffered about 30 such breaks between 2017 and 2023.

The frequent breakages are a reminder that Taiwan’s communication infrastructure must be able to withstand a crisis.

To help ensure that Taiwan can stay online if cables fail, the government has been pursuing a backup, including building a network of low-Earth orbit satellites capable of beaming the internet to Earth from space. Crucially, officials in Taiwan are racing to build their system without the involvement of Elon Musk, whose rocket company, SpaceX, dominates the satellite internet industry, but whose deep business links in China have left them wary.

Trudeau will resign as prime minister

Justin Trudeau, who has served as Canada’s prime minister for almost a decade, said that he would step down in the coming months, bowing to an angry electorate at a time of uncertain economic prospects and political infighting. He has suspended Parliament until March 24, he said.

The announcement has left Canada in political flux just as the incoming Trump administration has vowed to impose punishing tariffs on Canadian imports. Trudeau’s replacement will be chosen through a nationwide Liberal Party election.

He is the latest leader in the West to be swept aside by a mood of anti-incumbency, a backlash against immigration and anger at the lingering effects of a spike in inflation during the coronavirus pandemic. Although inflation in Canada has receded to below 2 percent, unemployment remains high, at above 6 percent.

Quotable: “It’s time for a reset,” Trudeau said, adding: “I truly feel that removing the contention around my own continued leadership is an opportunity to bring the temperature down.”

By the numbers: According to a poll released last month by Ipsos, 73 percent of Canadians — including 43 percent of Liberal voters — believed he should step down as party leader.

The U.S. has eased some restrictions on aid to Syria

Weeks after rebel forces toppled the Assad family’s 50-year authoritarian grip on the country, the Biden administration lifted some restrictions on humanitarian aid to Syria but kept sweeping sanctions in place.

The Treasury Department’s decision, which lasts six months, allows humanitarian groups to operate more freely without running afoul of U.S. sanctions, including by helping to provide basic services such as electricity, energy, water and sanitation.

Sanctions remain one of the most pressing concerns for Syria’s new administration, as it tries to chart a path forward, and Ahmed al-Shara, the leader of the rebel coalition that overthrew the government, has called on the U.S. to begin easing restrictions.

Background: During Syria’s civil war, the U.S. and its allies routinely looked to apply economic pressure on the now-ousted President Bashar al-Assad, his inner circle and the country’s economy writ large. Washington is now taking cautious steps to navigate its approach to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel faction that took down the government in Damascus.

From the region:

Russia seized a key town in Ukraine

Russia said yesterday that it had seized control of Kurakhove, a town in the southern Donbas region of Ukraine, closing in on its forces there.

Ukrainian forces made their own advance with a renewed push into the Kursk region of southern Russia. Combat footage, located by military analysts, indicated that Ukraine was trying to break through Russian defenses in at least three directions — its first significant attempt to advance in the region since Ukraine’s initial incursion in August.

The stakes: Taking Kurakhove and the surrounding towns could allow Russia to broaden its assault on the city of Pokrovsk, a focal point of the war in recent months, military analysts said. Russia is trying to encircle the city, hoping to avoid brutal and prolonged urban combat.

Analysis: The dueling offensives underscored how both the Kremlin and Kyiv are seeking to demonstrate strength, as Donald Trump prepares to take office, experts said. Trump has vowed to bring the war to a quick end but has not said how.

MORE TOP NEWS

The Taliban is desperate for a cash injection after losing billions in international aid. Now, they’re looking underground to an estimated $1 trillion of mineral deposits and gemstones beneath Afghanistan’s rugged landscape.

But it remains to be seen whether the Taliban can do what the U.S. couldn’t: control the country’s deeply chaotic industry enough to profit from it.

Lives lived: The drag star James Lee Williams, who performed as The Vivienne and who won the inaugural season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK,” died over the weekend at 32.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

ARTS AND IDEAS

Pushing their buttons

Many creators online have trained their pets to communicate by stepping on multicolored plastic buttons on the floor, expressing concepts like FOOD, MORE and even I DOG. For some commenters, the posts incite fervent ridicule; others are amazed and even inspired.

But what do scientists think? “Ostensibly, the interest in having dogs is that they’re another species. There’s something unknown about them, and that’s wonderful,” said Alexandra Horowitz, the head of a dog-cognition lab at Barnard College. “Why do we lean into forcing them to wear clothes and speak our language?”

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Natasha

Reach Natasha and the team at [email protected].

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is stepping down

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said yesterday that he would step down as Liberal Party leader and prime minister. The decision by Trudeau, who has led the country for nearly a decade, means that new leadership will take over in Canada by late March after his party picks a new head. Here’s the latest.

Trudeau has faced weeks of mounting pressure from inside his party’s ranks. In December, his deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, abruptly stepped down in a stinging rebuke of his leadership.

Her resignation led to Liberal parliamentarians asking Trudeau to step aside so someone else can lead the Liberal Party against the Conservatives in the October general election.

What’s next: Trudeau’s resignation sets off a succession battle to replace him. The upheaval comes as the country is grappling with how best to deal with President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to impose crippling tariffs on all imports from Canada on his first day in office. Canada and the U.S. are each other’s biggest trading partners.

End of an era: Trudeau has been prime minister since 2015, having resuscitated the Liberals, who had crashed electorally before he took over the party in 2013. Recently, however, he has become deeply unpopular: According to a poll released last month by Ipsos, 73 percent of Canadians — including 43 percent of Liberal voters — believed he should step down as party leader.

Russia took a key town as Ukraine made a renewed push

Russia said yesterday that it had seized control of Kurakhove, a town in Ukraine, as it closes in on Ukrainian forces in the southern Donbas region.

Ukrainian forces made their own advance with a renewed push into the Kursk region of southern Russia. Combat footage, located by military analysts, indicated that Ukraine was trying to break through Russian defenses in at least three directions. It was the first significant attempt by Kyiv’s forces to advance in the region since their original incursion in August.

The stakes: Taking Kurakhove and the surrounding towns could allow Russia to broaden its assault on the city of Pokrovsk, a focal point of the war in recent months, military analysts said. Russia is trying to encircle the city, hoping to avoid brutal and prolonged urban combat.

Analysis: The dueling offensives underscored how both the Kremlin and Kyiv are seeking to demonstrate strength as Trump prepares to take office, experts said. Trump has vowed to bring the war to a quick end without saying how.

The U.S. released 11 men from Guantánamo Bay

The U.S. military sent 11 Yemeni prisoners at Guantánamo Bay to Oman yesterday to restart their lives, leaving just 15 men in the prison. This final push by the Biden administration has left the detention center’s population smaller than at any other time in its more than 20-year history.

None of the released men had been charged with crimes during their two decades of detention. All but six of the remaining prisoners have been charged with or convicted of war crimes.

MORE TOP NEWS

The Taliban, desperate for a cash injection after losing billions in international aid, are looking underground. Beneath Afghanistan’s rugged landscape is an estimated $1 trillion of mineral deposits that could be a lifeline.

But it remains to be seen whether the Taliban can do what the U.S. couldn’t in the country: control a deeply chaotic industry enough to profit from it.

Catch up on the Golden Globes

The Golden Globes are usually an indicator of what to expect at the Oscars, but this year had some twist endings. Demi Moore, Fernanda Torres and Sebastian Stan all received unexpected wins, while the film “Anora,” an expected favorite, was snubbed.

But what really had people talking was the host. The comedian Nikki Glaser had a low bar to vault after Jo Koy’s lackluster performance in 2024, but she clearly aimed to do more than a little better and honed her opening monologue in dozens of club appearances.

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit western China near the border with Nepal on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The quake struck shortly after 9 a.m. at a depth of 6.2 miles in Dingri County in the Tibet region of China, Chinese state media reported. The state-run news agency Xinhua said there had been deaths in at least three townships.

Several aftershocks were felt in the area, including in Nepal.

The earthquake’s epicenter was recorded in Shigatse City, the second-largest city in Tibet.

The Himalayan region is prone to powerful earthquakes. In 2015, a quake in Nepal with a magnitude of 7.8 killed nearly 9,000 people.

This is a developing story.

Berry Wang contributed research.