Last summer, a court in Taiwan gave a three-year prison sentence to the Chinese captain of a ship registered in Togo after he was convicted of deliberately damaging Taiwan’s underwater cables.

Though that high-profile case in the justice system appeared to settle one incident, Taiwan remains challenged by such ongoing damage, which cuts the island off from the rest of the world. Taiwan is also embroiled in ongoing tensions with Beijing, which claims the self-ruled territory as its own.

Recent media reports say that amateur radio is being seen as Taiwan’s wireless workaround to maintaining connectivity. A civil defence group there has been providing ham radio instruction to prepare candidates for their operating licences. Although there is already an amateur radio presence in Taiwan, represented by the Chinese Taipei Amateur Radio League, these newest candidates are pursuing licensed status especially because of the damage being done to the cables. Their hope is to be able to step in and maintain communications if Taiwan is cut off from the Internet. More than 90 percent of Taiwan’s Internet traffic is carried by 15 international and 10 domestic communication cables.