Taiwanese regulator NCC has come under fire for its policy of allowing cross-strait cables linking Taiwan and mainland China.
Members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party questioned the NCC at a committee meeting over its proposal to let Taiwanese and Chinese operators jointly build subsea cables, stating it could threaten national security, the Taipei Times said.
Joint cable projects would give mainland carriers unfettered access to potentially confidential information, the DPP said.
But the NCC and the Mainland Affairs Council defended the amended regulations, approved in November.
They said under the current regime, traffic must be routed through international subsea cables or satellites, often via third-party locations, driving costs up for consumers.
The international cables that link to both China and Taiwan are the APCN, the Trans-Pacific Cable
Network, the China-US Cable Network, and the SEA-ME-WE 3.
The DPP asked for the debate to be postponed until Taiwanese security officials can brief the commission.