By Jia Feimao | 2026-04-20

Bipartisan US lawmakers have proposed legislation aimed at boosting the resilience of Taiwan's undersea cables, as Washington steps up efforts to counter what it describes as China's gray-zone pressure on the island.

The House measure, introduced in early April by Republican Representative Mike Lawler and Democratic Representatives Dave Min and Greg Stanton, seeks to improve protections for Taiwan's undersea cables and other critical infrastructure.

Cable safeguards

The bill calls for the priority deployment of advanced monitoring systems to detect cable disruptions or possible sabotage in real time, while strengthening early warning through global intelligence-sharing mechanisms. It also provides for a rapid response mechanism to reduce downtime after infrastructure damage.

Lawler said the legislation also authorizes the US Coast Guard to conduct joint patrols in the Taiwan Strait and nearby waters and to work with international partners to help protect undersea cable networks.

"Undersea infrastructure is the backbone of global communications and economic stability. As threats from the PRC [People's Republic of China] continue to grow, the US must lead in ensuring these systems are protected, resilient and secure," Lawler said.

Stanton said China has been deliberately targeting such infrastructure as part of a gray-zone campaign to isolate Taiwan without firing a shot, adding that the bill is intended to counter that pressure.

The measure also establishes a Cross-Strait Contingency Planning Group to conduct scenario-based exercises, identify vulnerabilities in global supply chains and critical infrastructure, and develop response plans with allies.

In addition, it calls on the US government to increase diplomatic pressure on China to comply with international norms, while expanding public diplomacy and intelligence-sharing to raise global awareness of threats to undersea infrastructure. It also authorizes sanctions on individuals responsible for or involved in attacks on critical undersea systems serving Taiwan and US allies.

Sabotage threat

The legislative push follows a series of cable incidents around Taiwan that have heightened concern over the vulnerability of the island's communications links.

Early last year, two foreign-flagged vessels with Chinese links were accused of deliberately dragging anchors and severing cables connecting Taiwan with the outside world and the outlying Penghu islands. One captain was later sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay NT$18.22 million (about US$607,000) in damages.

Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) said in an April 7 report that most damage to cables laid within 24 nautical miles offshore was caused by human activity, particularly anchor strikes and bottom trawling. The ministry said such incidents had created a new type of threat to cable security, prompting Taiwan to shift from a largely passive repair model to one focused on active defense and resilience-building.

Jason Hsu, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former Taiwanese legislator, told a US congressional hearing in March that undersea cable disruptions rank among Beijing's likely early moves in a conflict scenario.

Repair gap

"By targeting as few as three key cable clusters near the Bashi Channel, China could theoretically reduce Taiwan's international bandwidth by up to 95%. Combined with cyber operations and satellite jamming, this would create a multi-domain information denial strategy from space to the seabed," he said.

Hsu said Taiwan does not have its own cable repair ships and warned that "in peacetime, average cable repair times exceed 40 days. In wartime, repairs would be nearly impossible."

Beyond strengthening deterrence and resilience with the United States and its allies before a crisis, he urged Taiwan to develop indigenous cable repair capacity and improve monitoring and patrols along critical cable routes.

A separate companion measure has also been introduced in the Senate by Senators John Curtis and Jacky Rosen, and has already cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We can't stand idle as China ramps up its tactics to isolate Taiwan, including by sabotaging its vital undersea cables," Senator Curtis said.