Sweden asks China to co-operate over severed cables
Sweden has officially requested China’s cooperation in the investigation of damage to two cables in the Baltic Sea, after a Chinese vessel was linked to the incidents.
The cables, one connecting Sweden to Lithuania and the other linking Finland to Germany, were damaged in Swedish territorial waters on 17 and 18 November.
The Chinese ship, Yi Peng Three, is believed to have been in the vicinity at the time and has since been anchored in international waters off Denmark.
China has denied any involvement in sabotage.
The Yi Peng Three departed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga, located west of St. Petersburg, on 15 November.
On the morning of 17 November, the Arelion cable between the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania was damaged, followed by the severing of the C-Lion 1 cable between Helsinki, Finland, and Rostock, Germany, on the next day.
Tracking data indicates that the Yi Peng Three sailed over the cables around the time they were damaged.
According to the Wall Street Journal, investigators suspect that the ship deliberately damaged the cables by lowering and dragging its anchor along the seabed for over 160 kilometers (100 miles).
The ship has been in the Kattegat strait – a passage between Sweden and Denmark that connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea – since 19 November and is being monitored by the Danish navy.
On Thursday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference that his government had “sent a formal request to China to co-operate with Swedish authorities in order to create clarity on what has happened”.
“We think it’s extremely important to find out exactly what happened and, of course, we expect also China to comply with the request we have sent,” he said.
He also reiterated an earlier request for the ship to move back into Swedish waters so the ship could be searched as part of the investigation, though added that he was not making an “accusation” of any sort.
The period since Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has seen heightened tension in the Baltic Sea and a number of incidents involving damage to undersea infrastructure.
In September 2022, a series of explosions blew holes in the two Nord Stream gas pipelines between western Europe and Russia, and in October 2023 damage was done to an undersea telecoms cable between Estonia and Sweden.
Speaking last week, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said of the latest incident that “nobody believes that these cables were cut accidentally”, though he did not specify who he believed was responsible.
Russia has rejected suggestions it could have been involved as “absurd” and “laughable”.
