diff --git a/src/linking/linkModule.ml b/src/linking/linkModule.ml
index 6adf1535312..55c657285a1 100644
--- a/src/linking/linkModule.ml
+++ b/src/linking/linkModule.ml
@@ -846,7 +846,13 @@ let link (em1 : extended_module) libname (em2 : extended_module) =
     )
   end else ();
 
-  let old_table_size = read_table_size em1.module_ in
+  let max x y = if x >= y then x else y in (* use `Int.max` when bumping to 4.13 *)
+
+  (* Rust requires a table offset of at least 1 as elem[0] is considered invalid. 
+     There are debug checks panicking if the element index is zero.
+     On the other hand, elem[0] can be used by the Motoko backend code (em1),
+     as correct Rust-generated Wasm code does not call elem[0]. *)
+  let old_table_size = max (read_table_size em1.module_) 1l in
   let lib_table_start = align_i32 dylink.table_alignment old_table_size in
 
   let uses_memory64 = uses_memory64 em1.module_ in
diff --git a/test/ld/ok/representative.linked.wat.ok b/test/ld/ok/representative.linked.wat.ok
index bcf3c073ec9..076c64ab1df 100644
--- a/test/ld/ok/representative.linked.wat.ok
+++ b/test/ld/ok/representative.linked.wat.ok
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     i32.mul)
   (func $link_start (type 0)
     call $__wasm_call_ctors)
-  (table (;0;) 0 0 funcref)
+  (table (;0;) 1 1 funcref)
   (memory (;0;) i64 2)
   (global (;0;) i64 (i64.const 65536))
   (start $link_start))