By Yimou Lee, Fabian Hamacher and Ann Wang

ON BOARD THE TAIWAN COAST GUARD SHIP PP-10079, Taiwan Strait (Reuters) -Taiwanese coast guard captain Juan Chung-ching’s patrol boat moves across the Taiwan Strait, scanning for threats to what Taipei says is the newest target of China’s grey-zone warfare: undersea cables vital to the democratic island’s communications.

Juan steered his 100-ton vessel, armed with water cannons and an autocannon, toward TP3, the undersea cable that made international headlines when a Chinese captain was found guilty of deliberately severing it this year.

TP3 is one of 24 undersea cables connecting Taiwan to the domestic or global internet.

Juan said such missions have become a top priority to combat China’s grey-zone warfare, a tactic meant to drain Taiwan’s re

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