The Chinese director of a firm whose vessel Taiwan suspects of having damaged an undersea communications cable said on Wednesday there was no evidence the ship was involved, an incident that has alarmed the government in Taipei.

The incident raises concern China will try to cut all undersea cables to Taiwan in the event of a military invasion, so Taiwan is racing to develop a satellite-based internet service.

The incident caused only minimal disruption of service but sent a message about the vulnerability of the island and its internet.

The Taiwanese government alleged that a Chinese-owned vessel cut an underwater internet cable in an act of sabotage. The incident occurred on Friday when a Hong Kong-owned and Cameroon-flagged cargo ship,

A Taiwanese freighter is accused of deliberately dragging its anchor to cut an internet cable directly linking Taiwan to the U.S. East Coast.