Sweden has formally requested China's cooperation in investigating two submarine cables damaged in the Baltic Sea. The country believes that the Chinese ship may be linked to the suspected act of sabotage. This is known from the report of the British media BBC.
Submarine cables connecting Sweden to Lithuania and Finland to Germany were damaged in Swedish territorial waters on 17 and 18 November. It is believed that a Chinese ship called 'Ye Peng Three' was stationed there at that time. Later it was also seen anchored in international waters off the coast of Denmark.
However, Beijing denied the allegations of sabotage and said in a statement on Friday that it is ready to cooperate with other countries, including Sweden, to investigate the exact cause of the damage to the two submarine cables.
On November 15, the Chinese ship 'Ye Peng 3' set sail from the port of Ust-Luga, west of St. Petersburg, Russia. Then on the morning of November 17, the Arelion submarine cable between the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania was damaged. The next day, on November 18, the Sea Lion-1 submarine cable between Helsinki, the capital of Finland, and Rostock, Germany, was cut.
According to the ship tracking website, the Yi Peng 3 cut the submarine cables just as they passed over them. The Wall Street Journal reported that investigators suspect the Chinese vessel deliberately dropped its anchor on the seabed and dragged it about 160 kilometers (100 miles). As a result, two submarine cables were damaged.
The vessel has been in the Kattegat Strait since November 19. The Kattegat Strait is a passage between Sweden and Denmark, connecting the Baltic Sea with the North Sea, and the area is patrolled by the Danish Navy.
Sweden's Prime Minister Wolf Kristerson said in a press conference yesterday, 'We have officially requested China to investigate the matter. In order to know, what actually caused the submarine cables to be damaged.'
“We think it's very important to know what happened and we hope that China will keep our request,” Christerson added.
The Swedish Prime Minister stated that the vessel should be returned to Swedish waters as part of the investigation. so that it can be searched. However, he also mentioned that he is not making any complaint against the Chinese ship right now.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, “We are willing to work with the relevant countries to uncover the truth of this matter.”
Mao Ning also said, “Currently, China and Sweden continue to discuss this issue.”
Tensions in the Baltic Sea have peaked since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and since then there have been multiple incidents of damage to undersea infrastructure.
In September of that year, an explosion in the Ukraine-Russia war caused holes in two sections of the Nord Stream gas pipeline between Western Europe and Russia. Then in October 2023, a submarine telecom cable between Estonia and Sweden was also damaged due to the Ukraine-Russia war.
However, Russia has rejected the allegations of involvement in the incident as 'ridiculous' and 'absurd'.
