Sweden Requests China’s Help in Investigation of Possible Sabotage of Baltic Sea Cable
The Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-flagged bulk carrier, is currently in international waters. Sweden would like to direct the ship to Swedish waters.
Legal Insurrection readers may recall our report on the possible sabotage of critical communication cables in the Baltic Sea.
The Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-flagged bulk carrier, has since been investigated for its suspected involvement in the incident. It may have stemmed from an anchor being dragged over cables connecting Sweden to Lithuania and Finland to Germany.
Investigators suspect that the crew of the Yi Peng 3 bulk carrier—225 meters long, 32 meters wide and loaded with Russian fertilizer—deliberately severed two critical data cables last week as its anchor was dragged along the Baltic seabed for over 100 miles.
Their probe now centers on whether the captain of the Chinese-owned ship, which departed the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga on Nov. 15, was induced by Russian intelligence to carry out the sabotage. It would be the latest in a series of attacks on Europe’s critical infrastructure that law-enforcement and intelligence officials say have been orchestrated by Russia.
“It’s extremely unlikely that the captain would not have noticed that his ship dropped and dragged its anchor, losing speed for hours and cutting cables on the way,” said a senior European investigator involved in the case.
The ship’s Chinese owner, Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, is cooperating with the investigation and has allowed the vessel to be stopped in international waters, according to people familiar with the probe. The company declined to comment.
Sweden is now asking for China’s help in directing the ship to Swedish waters so that the investigation can continue.
Sweden has formally asked China to cooperate in explaining the recent rupture of two data cables on the Baltic Sea bed in an area where a China-flagged vessel had been sighted, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Thursday.
…The Yi Peng 3 has been moored in international waters between Sweden and Denmark. Kristersson told a news conference in the town of Harpsund that Sweden would like the vessel to move to its own waters to allow for an inspection within the ongoing international investigation.
“As I had said before, Sweden has expressed our desire for the ship to move to Swedish waters and we are in contact with China from Sweden,” Kristersson said. “Today I can also tell you that in addition to that Sweden has also sent a formal request to China to cooperate with Swedish authorities in order to create clarity on what has happened. ”
He was speaking after a security meeting of government leaders of the Baltic sea region.
The Swedes are seeking formal permission from China because what can be legally done on international waters is tricky.
Despite physical access to the suspect vessel off the coast of Denmark and a heavy law-enforcement presence, the affected NATO nations have not boarded the Yi Peng 3 for an inspection – and are negotiating with China for permission. Yi Peng 3 is anchored less than one nautical mile outside of Denmark’s territorial seas, and without legal justification, Danish authorities are reportedly unwilling to conduct a boarding of a Chinese-flagged ship.
Sweden, which was directly affected by the cable breaks and is leading the investigation, has asked for the Yi Peng 3 to voluntarily return to Swedish territorial seas. “From the Swedish side, we have had contact with the ship and China and stated that we want the ship to move towards Swedish waters,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said, emphasizing that he was not accusing the crew of any wrongdoing. “It’s not the first time we’ve been hit by a cable break with a slightly unclear basis. We absolutely want to know what caused this.”
The Swedish Prime Minister refers to the first incident related to cable damage caused by a Hong Kong-flagged container ship, NewNew Polar Bear. In October 2023, the ship damaged the 77-kilometer Baltic connector pipeline, an essential energy source for Finland, and an undersea data cable connecting Estonia to Sweden.
Initially, China dismissed accusations of the NewNew Polar Bear‘s involvement. However, in August 2024, Chinese authorities acknowledged the ship’s responsibility through an internal investigation report circulated among European ministries. The report claimed the damage was an accident due to bad weather rather than intentional sabotage.
China initially dismissed outright the European accusations that the NewNew Polar Bear was involved. But ten months later, according to the SCMP, Chinese authorities communicated their findings of an internal investigation via a Chinese-language report circulated among European ministries, blaming a strong storm.
China’s admission could be seen as an unusual display of transparency. But SCMP also notes that the report does not serve as official evidence in the ongoing criminal investigations in Estonia and Finland. China’s Ministry of Justice has yet to provide the requested legal assistance, leaving authorities in both countries sceptical about the extent of China’s cooperation.
One discovery that has already been made implicating the Yi Peng 3 is that its port anchor flukes were twisted in opposite directions, an unusual type of damage requiring substantial force.
It’s not difficult to project that China will explain this incident away as a stormy weather accident as well.
Here’s wishing Sweden a lot of good luck in getting the cooperation from China it needs to reveal the realities.
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Comments
This should speed up the investigation. Go straight to the party that actually committed the sabotage. No one knows more about it than they do.
Great headline, if it were a joke. Sort of like:
“Chicago Police Request Al Capone’s Help in Investigation of Shooting Deaths”.
Well, what’s their alternative? Asking help from a pipeline saboteur?
They’re already doing that.
“Yi Peng 3 is anchored less than one nautical mile outside of Denmark’s territorial seas, and without legal justification, Danish authorities are reportedly unwilling to conduct a boarding of a Chinese-flagged ship.”
Okay, let’s break this down:
1) The ship is in international waters. Neither Sweden (nor any other country) needs Denmark’s permission to board the ship.
2) The legal justification to board the ship is the suspected involvement of the ship and crew in damaging the underseas cables. Like any crime scene investigation, one inspects all evidence and conducts interviews with all suspects.
3) Denmark need not lead that investigation if it does not wish to do so; the Swedes or the Balts may decide to do it.
4) Why this is necessarily a NATO affair is not clear unless those cables were part of a NATO system for military communication. If that is the case, NATO may not wish to make that clear for security reasons. Hence the fooling around here.
5) To borrow from Marvelous Mark and Doonesbury, while China may use the law to hide their involvement, their behavior so far would make a reasonable person conclude that they are guilty. That’s guilty, guilty, GUILTY!
I can imagine the answer.
sure we help you long time…..
The Russian navy routinely harassed contractors laying the Swedish-Lithuanian Baltic Sea energy cables (2013).
It’s all so obvious. Just like the silly nonsense of calling Russia forces “little green men’” — as unmarked Russian troop truck convoys transited Rostov-on-the-Don to invade the Donbas and the Crimean peninsula.
Golly, who are those guys!
From what I understand, the Danish navy was ghosting the YiPeng3 through the Kattegat and into the Baltic Sea – and the cables were then breached. So, why did they allow the ship to proceed to St. Petersburg as if it were all a silly mistake?
I’ve also read that these Chinese anchor dragging ships use Russian pilots when transiting the Kattegat-Baltic-Finnish Sea lanes.
We should retaliate by blowing up their undersea gas pipelines.
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