HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) - 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.

Taiwanese authorities are investigating a Hong Kong-owned cargo ship suspected of damaging a subsea telecoms cable northeast of the island, Taiwan's coast guard said Monday. The Cameroon-flagged vessel was intercepted by the coast guard on Friday after Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom reported damage to a subsea cable.

Taiwan's coast guard has said that it suspects a ship damaged an undersea communications cable over the weekend, but that bad weather prevented its personnel from boarding the vessel to investigate.

A Chinese-owned cargo ship suspected of damaging a subsea telecoms cable off Taiwan has stopped transmitting its location on the high seas, Taiwan's coast guard said Tuesday.Taiwan has asked South Korean authorities for assistance in the investigation into the ship after rough seas prevented them boarding the vessel near northern Taiwan,

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.

Taiwan launches an investigation into a Chinese ship suspected of damaging undersea communication cables, seeking to determine the extent of the impact on connectivity.

A Chinese-owned freighter registered in Cameroon has drawn scrutiny for severing an undersea cable off the coast of northern Taiwan near Keelung Harbor. This latest disruption underscores the growing vulnerabilities in Taiwan's critical infrastructure as tensions with China continue to escalate.