Han Kuang 42: Expedient ship spotted in the submarine cable area west of Penghu, communication quality in jeopardy

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2026/08/14 14:51

A cargo ship flying the Mongolian flag loiters in the Penghu submarine cable area. (Provided by the public)

[Reporter Liu Yu-ching/Penghu Report] This year's Han Kuang 42 Exercise and Resilience (Air Defense) Exercise, drawing on the experience of democratic countries such as Japan and South Korea, has for the first time included a large-scale 'mobile network speed reduction drill.' The purpose is to simulate extreme scenarios, verify the government's response capabilities in a limited communication environment, promote how the public can prepare diverse communication backup methods, and enhance the public's resilience awareness of 'being prepared for a rainy day.' However, an actual threat has been reported in the waters off Penghu, with a flag-of-convenience ship loitering in the submarine cable area.

This mobile network speed reduction drill is planned to be implemented in a total of 14 counties and cities in central and northern Taiwan. This drill is not a 'network outage,' but a 'speed reduction.' Basic operations, including voice calls, SMS, and text transmission, will remain functional. The speed reduction will affect high-bandwidth services, such as video streaming, video calls, mobile payments, and cloud synchronization. The goal is to establish the public's response capability for communication backups through these network speed reduction drills.

The Mongolian cargo ship has been loitering in the waters west of Penghu for a long time, recently approaching within 16 nautical miles of Penghu. (Provided by the public)

Although Penghu is in the south and was not included in the exercise area, as the Han Kuang 42 Exercise nears its end, a flag-of-convenience ship is again loitering off the coast of Penghu! The flag-of-convenience ship 'ROMANTIC,' flying the Mongolian flag, has been lingering off the west coast of Taiwan for a long time, with an activity range spanning the waters from Keelung and Miaoli to Penghu. It has stayed for over a month, raising high concerns about the security of our country's submarine cables. It was expelled by a Penghu Coast Guard patrol boat earlier this month.

Unexpectedly, it returned to the waters west of Penghu again this morning (14th), only 16 nautical miles away from Penghu, which is particularly concerning during the Han Kuang Exercise. It is worth noting that the ship's current position is gradually approaching the waters related to the 'TPKM3' and 'TWPK3' submarine cables around Penghu. The Coast Guard Administration has dispatched additional patrol boats to search the reported waters.