U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to protect Taiwan's undersea cables

Three U.S. House representatives have introduced a bipartisan bill to strengthen the resilience of Taiwan’s undersea cables and other critical undersea infrastructure.

• Main announcement: The bill would deploy advanced sensors for enhanced undersea monitoring, provide real-time intelligence to Taiwan, mandate U.S. collaboration with allies to build regional capacity for recovery from attacks and to minimize service disruptions, and would enable sanctions on those found responsible for or complicit in sabotaging undersea infrastructure. The House bill was introduced by Representatives including Mike Lawler and Dave Min.
• Background and related actions: The measure responds to a series of incidents described as “gray zone” tactics involving Chinese vessels near Taiwan’s outlying islands between 2023 and last month; a Senate companion bill introduced by Senators John Curtis and Jacky Rosen cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January.