Taiwan’s coast guard detained a cargo ship and its Chinese crew on Tuesday and said it was investigating whether the vessel had deliberately cut an undersea telecoms cable in the latest possible breach of the island’s communication lines.

Taiwan's coast guard said it was investigating whether the incident was sabotage but said "it cannot be ruled out that it was a gray zone intrusion."

China's government said on Wednesday that Taiwan was "manipulating" possible Chinese involvement in the latest severing of an undersea communications cable, saying the island was casting aspersions before the facts were clear.

Taiwan has detained a Chinese-crewed ship over suspicions it deliberately damaged an undersea cable to the island. On Tuesday, Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration reported intercepting the “Hongtai 168” while investigating a disruption involving an undersea fiber cable for a local mobile carrier,

Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Chinese-crewed ship suspected of severing an undersea communications cable in the latest such incident adding to tensions between Taipei and Beijing. Taiwan’s coast guard intercepted the Togolese-flagged cargo ship Hongtai in waters between its main island’s west coast and the outlying Penghu Islands early Tuesday,