China tensions rise as Sweden probes Baltic cable sabotage
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated, " We are in contact with China and the crew of the vessel Yi Peng 3. We want this ship to enter our territorial waters." The bulk carrier has been in international waters in the Kattegat Strait since last week. The crew is suspected of breaking cables in the Baltic Sea.
That is our firm wish, but we have not received a response from the Chinese side, emphasized Kristersson.
The crew of the Chinese ship is suspected of breaking two telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea. The Danish Navy and the Swedish Coast Guard are monitoring the vessel. The Danish broadcaster Danmarks Radio reported that the ship had a damaged anchor.
According to Kristersson, the Swedish authorities want to clarify what happened on the Baltic Sea floor: "We’re not making any accusations but we seek clarity on what has happened."
On Monday, public broadcasters in Denmark and Sweden, DR and SVT, reported that diplomatic efforts are underway to convince the ship's crew to allow representatives of the Scandinavian authorities on board.
The status of international waters makes it difficult to undertake actions such as searching the ship or interviewing the sailors. Last week, the Swedish prosecutor's office investigated possible sabotage.
Over the weekend, the Swedish Navy, acting on the orders of the prosecutor's office in Stockholm and the police, completed documentation of the locations on the seabed where undersea cables were cut on November 17 and 18. The telecommunications connections linking Lithuania with Sweden and Finland with Germany were damaged. Both locations are in the Swedish economic zone.
The Kattegat Strait is located between Denmark and Sweden.
Damaged ship anchor. "Twisted in an unusual way"
According to experts interviewed by Danish media, the ends of the anchor appear to be twisted unusually. It is natural that in this type of crime, the cause is examined, whether the ship could have damaged the cables with its anchor, said Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen, a defense analyst at Nordic Defence Analysis, to Danmarks Radio.
"No one believes that these cables were cut accidentally. I also don't want to believe in versions that these were anchors that accidentally caused damage over these cables," said Boris Pistorius, the German Defense Minister. A similar incident occurred last year when the Chinese container ship NewNew Polar Bear damaged a gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland.
