Beijing’s use of civilian fishing vessels as a quasi-military instrument is not new, but the scale of recent activity in the waters north of Taiwan has moved the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM) from a nuisance force into something closer to a strategic asset under active development.

The clearest signal came earlier this year, when remote-sensing analysis detected more than a thousand Chinese-flagged fishing vessels converging into tight, linear formations in the East China Sea. The pattern first appeared over Christmas, with roughly 1,700 boats arranging themselves into adjacent L-shaped lines off the coast near Ningbo. It recurred in early January, this time holding position for more than 30 hours and stretching across roughly 200 miles of open water. A third, even larger muster reportedly approached 2,000 vessels.

The cables that carry Taiwan’s internet traffic run along the seafloor, mostly invisible, largely undefended, and increasingly targeted. Since 2023, a sustained pattern of sabotage — carried out by Chinese-linked vessels operating under flags of convenience and falsified identities — has emerged as one of Beijing’s sharpest tools of gray-zone pressure. The plausible deniability is deliberate. So is the damage.

A Documented Pattern, Not a Coincidence

In early 2023, Chinese-registered vessels severed two undersea cables linking Taiwan’s Matsu Islands to the main island, cutting internet access for roughly 13,000 residents for nearly two months. It was framed as an accident. The pattern since has made that framing implausible.