Trace to freighter

China: No knowledge of cable damage in the Baltic Sea

The Swedish Minister for Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, spoke of conspicuous ship movements.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Following the start of investigations into the damage to two data cables in the Baltic Sea, Beijing initially kept a low profile. In response to reports that the Chinese-flagged freighter "Yi Peng 3" was sailing near the cables at the time of the damage, the Foreign Ministry stated that it was not aware of the situation.

China has always fulfilled its duties as a flag state and requires Chinese ships to strictly adhere to the relevant laws, emphasized a spokesperson in Beijing. The country attaches great importance to the protection of underwater infrastructure, he said.

Conspicuous ship movements
Swedish and Finnish media had previously reported that the Chinese ship had been at the locations of the data cable breaks. Its radio signal for identification (AIS signal) is said to have suddenly disappeared. Without naming the ship in question, the Swedish Minister for Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, reported conspicuous ship movements that coincided in time and space with the occurrence of the damage.

The Swedish radio station SVT, among others, reported that naval vessels from NATO countries had shadowed the ship coming from a Russian oil port on its way from the Baltic Sea into the Kattegat between Denmark and Sweden after the incidents on the submarine cables. Several patrol vessels of the Danish navy are said to have followed the ship.

This has not yet been officially confirmed. However, ship movements showed that at least two Danish military vessels were in the Kattegat south of the small island of Anholt in the immediate vicinity of the "Yi Peng 3" on Wednesday morning. The Chinese ship was anchored at the time. Whether it was detained by the Danes or stopped for another reason remained unclear at first.

Pistorius assumes sabotage
On Tuesday, the Swedish authorities launched an investigation into possible sabotage of the two data cables that run in the Baltic Sea between Helsinki in Finland and Rostock in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and between Sweden and Lithuania. Even before the Swedish announcement, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had said that sabotage had to be assumed in these cases. However, there is no evidence of this so far.