China Refused to Give Full Access to Vessel Suspected of Baltic Sea Cable Sabotage: Swedish Minister

The anchor of the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, in the sea of Kattegat, near the City of Grenaa in Jutland, Denmark, on Nov. 20, 2024. Mikkel Berg Pedersen/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters

Sweden’s foreign minister said China refused its prosecutor full access to a vessel suspected of Baltic Sea cable sabotage.

Two undersea fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged on Nov. 17 and Nov. 18 within 24 hours, coinciding with the movements of a Chinese 75,200-dwt (deadweight ton) bulk carrier called the Yi Peng 3.

However, Sweden has criticized China, claiming it refused to allow its main investigator on board to investigate.

‘Remarkable’

“It is something the government inherently takes seriously. It is remarkable that the ship leaves without the prosecutor being given the opportunity to inspect the vessel and question the crew within the framework of a Swedish criminal investigation,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said in comments provided on Dec. 22 to the Financial Times.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded to Stenergard’s remarks at a news briefing on Dec. 23, saying that China provided information and documents to the joint investigation.

“In order to cooperate with the investigation, the Yi Peng 3 has been suspended for a long period of time, and in order to safeguard the physical and mental health of the crew, the shipowner company has decided to resume its voyage after a comprehensive assessment and consultation with the parties concerned,” Mao said.

The Epoch Times contacted Stenergard’s press team and Sweden’s prosecutor’s office for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

‘Observers Only’

The Yi Peng 3, which had been sitting idle for more than a month in international waters inside Denmark’s exclusive economic zone, sailed away from its mooring on Dec. 21. It appears to be heading for Egypt.

China had on Dec. 19 allowed some access to representatives from Germany, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark to board the Yi Peng 3 along with Chinese investigators.

On Dec. 20, Swedish police said in a statement that they participated on board the vessel as observers only while Chinese authorities conducted investigations. The police said the actions taken on board the ship on Dec. 19 were not part of the Swedish-led preliminary investigation.

“In parallel, the preliminary investigation into sabotage in connection with two cable breaks in the Baltic Sea is continuing,” the police said.

“It has started moving and has said it is going to Port Said in Egypt,” a Swedish coast guard spokesperson told Reuters. “We are tracking the ship and are in close contact with other concerned authorities.”

Jonas Backstrand, chair of Sweden’s accident investigation authority, said on Dec. 20 that he was “content” with the visit.

“We are content with the visit onboard, which was relatively open and transparent and we had the possibility to see what we wanted to see and to talk to the crew members that we wanted to talk with,” he said.

Precedent

Writing on social media X on Dec. 22, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that the Chinese regime’s “unwillingness to cooperate on the undersea incident investigations in the Baltic Sea cannot be allowed to set a precedent in Europe—or anywhere else.”

“If the ‘What’s mine is mine’ mentality becomes a new global norm, it will have to be countered by new navigation rules in #EU waters to address vulnerabilities,” he said.

“Building security starts with mitigating weaknesses.”

Gray Zone

Telia Lietuva’s 135-mile cable between Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland went offline on Nov. 17 at 8 a.m. GMT, followed by the 745-mile Cinia C-Lion1 cable linking Finland and Germany, which failed on Nov. 18 at 2 a.m. GMT.

The C-Lion1 cable runs alongside the Nord Stream pipelines.

The multibillion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which transport gas under the Baltic Sea, were ruptured by a series of blasts in the Swedish and Danish economic zones in September 2022 that released vast amounts of methane into the air seven months after the Russia–Ukraine war began.

Furthermore, the incidents in the Baltic Sea occurred just more than a year after the Hong Kong-registered Newnew Polar Bear container ship was suspected of damaging an Estonia–Finland gas pipeline and two undersea cables between Estonia, Finland, and Sweden.

Reuters contributed to this report.