Sweden asks China to cooperate on cut cables

2024-11-29 07:52:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Sweden has formally asked China to cooperate with an investigation into the damage to two cables in the Baltic Sea after a Chinese ship was linked to the incidents.

The cables, one connecting Sweden to Lithuania, the other connecting Finland to Germany, were damaged in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea on November 17 and 18.

A Chinese vessel, the Yi Peng Three, is believed to have been in the area at the time and has since docked in international waters off Denmark.

China has denied any involvement in the sabotage. The Yi Peng Three left the Russian port of Ust-Luga, west of St. Petersburg, on November 15. Early on November 17, the Arelion cable between the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania was damaged.

The next day, the C-Lion 1 cable between the Finnish capital Helsinki and the German port of Rostock was severed. Data from ship-tracking websites suggests that the Yi Peng Three sailed on the cable around the time each was cut.

According to the Wall Street Journal, investigators suspect the ship intentionally damaged the cables by dropping and dragging its anchor along the seabed for more than 160 km (100 miles).

The ship has been in the Kattegat Strait - a passage between Sweden and Denmark that connects the Baltic Sea with the North Sea - since November 19 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 cooperate with the Swedish authorities to create clarity on what happened".

"We think it is extremely important to find out exactly what happened and, of course, we expect China to comply with the request that we have sent," he said.

He also repeated an earlier request that the ship be returned to Swedish waters so the vessel could be searched as part of the investigation, although he added that he was not making an "accusation" of any kind.

The period since Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has seen increased tension in the Baltic Sea and a number of incidents involving damage to underwater infrastructure.

In September 2022, a series of explosions blew holes in two Nord Stream gas pipelines between Western Europe and Russia, and in October 2023 an underwater telecommunications cable between Estonia and Sweden was damaged./ CNA