At least three coast guard and naval vessels from NATO countries are currently shadowing the Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3.
Sweden is asking a Chinese vessel to return to its waters to help with an investigation into mysterious breaches of undersea fiber-optic cables.
Two undersea fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged within 24 hours of the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3’s movements, coinciding with the timing of the damage.
“From the Swedish side, we have had contact with the ship and contact with China and said that we want the ship to move toward Swedish waters,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a press conference on Nov. 26.
“We’re not making any accusations but we seek clarity on what has happened.
“This is the second time in a relatively short period of time that there have been serious physical cable breaches.”
Cables
Telia Lietuva’s 135-mile cable between Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland went offline on Nov. 17 at 8 a.m., followed by the 745-mile Cinia C-Lion1 cable linking Finland and Germany, which failed on Nov. 18 at 2 a.m.
The Yi Peng 3, a 75,200-dwt (deadweight ton) bulk carrier flagged under China, traveled through the Baltic Sea at the time the two incidents occurred and is now sitting idle in international waters, inside Denmark’s exclusive economic zone.
China’s foreign ministry said on Nov. 25 that Beijing has maintained “smooth communication” with all parties involved.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian previously told reporters at a regular news briefing that Chinese authorities had no information about the ship being monitored but said the country was ready to “maintain communication” with relevant parties.
He called for the Chinese ship’s right to normal navigation to be protected.
Following the incidents, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he believed the cables were deliberately sabotaged.
NATO Countries
There are now at least three coast guard and naval vessels from NATO countries shadowing the Chinese vessel.
According to Marine Traffic, the German coast guard dispatched the patrol ship Bad Düben to be near the vessel. The Swedish coast guard patrol ship Poseidon (KBV 001) is also close.
A spokesman for the Danish armed forces previously told The Epoch Times that they are present in the area near the Yi Peng 3 but that its military currently “has no further comments.”
Authorities in Sweden and Finland have launched investigations.
A spokesman for the Swedish navy told The Epoch Times by email that it is not involved in monitoring the Chinese vessel but is helping police investigate the cut cables.
He said that on Nov. 24, the ships investigating the cable breakage sites returned to base for resupply and to wait out adverse weather conditions.
“If the police want us to return and do some additional documentation, we will do so,” he said.
A Finnish army spokesman referred The Epoch Times to a recent statement from the country’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that said that “the crime scene investigation” is ongoing.
Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi of the NBI said that authorities are aware of the ships that were in the area at the time the sea cables were ruptured.
“We are also aware of the Chinese vessel that has been mentioned in the media, and it is naturally of interest to the authorities. At this point, however, we have no further comments to make,” he said.
Grey Zone
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 came just over 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.
According to defense experts at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, Beijing’s capabilities and its record of using gray zone warfare tactics make the regime a prime suspect.
“It’s reasonable to suspect Russia and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are behind it,” Su Tzu-yun, director of the institute’s division of defense strategy and resources, told The Epoch Times, referring to the undersea robotic capabilities of China and Russia and the previous damaging of cables around Europe.
Russia has denied any involvement in the damage to the cables.
Reuters and Epoch Times reporter Lily Zhou contributed to this report.