Chinese authorities have denied any knowledge of a Chinese vessel being monitored by Swedish and Danish forces in connection to the cutting of undersea data cables in the Baltic Sea.
The Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3’s movements had coincided with the timing of damage to cables between Lithuania and Sweden, as well as between Finland and Germany, Swedish authorities said.
Despite the ship’s proximity to the incidents, no direct link has been confirmed, and investigations are ongoing.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters at a regular news briefing that Chinese authorities had no information about the ship, a 75,200-dwt (deadweight ton) bulk carrier flagged under China, being monitored but said the country was ready to “maintain communication” with relevant parties.
Lin called for the Chinese ship’s right to normal navigation to be protected.
Two undersea fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged. One between Lithuania and Sweden was severed on Nov. 17, and another between Finland and Germany was cut on Nov. 18, less than 24 hours later.
The damage occurred in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone.
Sweden Takes Incident ‘Very Seriously’
Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told The Epoch Times by email: “The Government is taking this very seriously and is following the development closely.“It is crucial that we get clarification about the cause of this event.”
A spokesman for the Swedish navy told The Epoch Times that it has “been in close contact with the police during the process.”
“Since Tuesday, we have had units at sea performing documentation on the most southerly of the two cable breaks, the cable between Finland and Germany,” he said.
“We have finished the first one and have now started the same work on the northern one. We have no time frame at the moment when we will be finished. That depends on things like the weather and the visibility on the seabed.”
The spokesman said that he “will not comment on the result.”
“That is under pre-trial confidentiality and will be handed over to the prosecutor/police,” he said.
Bohlin said on Nov. 20 that the ship’s movements were recorded by the Swedish armed forces and coast guard.
“Our authorities are on their toes and it was quickly established that there are ship movements that correspond in time and space with the interruptions on each cable,” Bohlin told Swedish public service broadcaster SVT.
“There are ship movements that raise question marks.”
Cuts Not Accidental: German Minister
A 135-mile internet link between Lithuania and the Swedish island of Gotland went out of service at about 8 a.m. (GMT) on Nov. 17, according to Lithuania’s Telia Lietuva, part of Sweden’s Telia Company.Later, Finnish state-controlled cybersecurity and telecoms company Cinia revealed that a separate 745-mile C-Lion1 cable, connecting Helsinki to the German port of Rostock, also stopped working at about 2 a.m. (GMT) on Nov. 18.
On Nov. 19, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius dismissed the likelihood of accidental damage caused by ship anchors or other routine maritime activities.
“No one believes that these cables were cut accidentally,” Pistorius said before a meeting of European Union defense ministers.
“I also don’t want to believe in versions that these were ship anchors that accidentally caused the damage.
“So we have to state—without knowing in concrete terms who it came from—that this is a hybrid action. And we also have to assume—without already knowing it, obviously—that this is sabotage.”
