TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Coast Guard on Monday reportedly drove away a suspected Chinese freighter from Taiwan's undersea cables. 

On Monday, a Mongolian-flagged freighter with the Mandarin name “Bao Shun” was spotted taking an erratic course in the same area of subsea cables, sparking further national security concerns after a Chinese ship allegedly damaged a subsea cable Friday, per Liberty Times. 

Facebook page Taiwan ADIZ on Monday reported that the Bao Shun meandered in the waters off New Taipei's Shimen District over 24 hours from Sunday to Monday afternoon. At one point, it came within 463 meters (0.25 NM) of the shore. 

The ship's intentions were unknown. The Coast Guard dispatched the patrol boat PP-10050, which drove the vessel away from the area, per Taiwan ADIZ. 

The post reported that no submarine communications cables had been damaged so far on Monday. 

According to the website VesselFinder, the Bao Shun is listed as a general cargo ship. It was built in 2005 when it was a Chinese-flagged ship under the Mandarin name Shun Tai 188 and has subsequently had three other Mandarin names. 

In January 2015, the ship's name was changed to Young De Sheng 158, before being changed again to Mao Yun Hang in August 2022. The ship obtained its current name in February 2023, when it was registered in Mongolia. 

On Friday, “Shunxing39," a Cameroonian-flagged Chinese freighter was suspected of damaging an undersea cable in the waters off the coast of the Port of Keelung. A senior Taiwanese national security official told FT, “This is another case of a very worrying global trend of sabotage against subsea cables.”