So the cat and mouse game continues. I wonder what France and Italy gain from blocking though.

Also, I fully agree with this:

" The VPN industry, however, warns that this creates “a dangerous precedent,” which could have a chilling effect on all the people using these services to protect their privacy and security."

Considering the cable was likely cut by just dragging the anchor over the seafloor, there’s not much to find. It’s perfectly plausible that the crew consists of a bunch of idiots.

It isn’t even a proper investigation as I read it. There were Chinese officials supervising the activities. Though I wonder what they could find, after the crew had ample time to get prepared, and to get rid of whatever evidence they might have had.

But they did drag the anchor for 100 miles (link WSJ). Dragging an anchor for 100 miles would’ve been very noticeable for any crewmember, experts say.