Asian Internet traffic blocked

Asian Internet traffic blocked

TAIPEI (DPA): A severed undersea cable linking Taiwan and the United States has interrupted Internet traffic across the Pacific for the second time in a month, local media reported Saturday.

More than 4 million Internet users in Taiwan and Southeast Asia had difficulty accessing U.S. web sites beginning late Friday. Some media speculated that a fishing boat from the People's Republic of China damaged the cable with its nets.

People surfing the web in the U.S. also had trouble logging on to Taiwanese sites, though Internet users on the Chinese mainland experienced no problems.

The damage to the cable occurred in a stretch between Taiwan's territorial waters and Chong Ming Island, which lies in the mouth of the Yangtse River.

Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's state-run telecom operator, was able to arrange alternative routing for the Internet traffic after several hours, according to local media.