Sweden Seeks China’s Cooperation in Subsea Cable Damage Probe

Swedish authorities have officially requested China’s collaboration in an inquiry regarding harm sustained by two subsea cables in the Baltic Sea, following the association of a Chinese vessel with the occurrences. These cables – one connecting Sweden with Lithuania and the other running between Finland and Germany – incurred damage within Sweden’s territorial waters in the Baltic Sea on 17 and 18 November. The Chinese vessel, the Yi Peng Three, is thought to have been present in the vicinity during that period and has since remained at anchor in international waters near Denmark. Beijing has refuted any participation in sabotage and stated on Friday its readiness to cooperate with Sweden and other nations to ascertain the events. The Yi Peng Three departed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga, situated west of St Petersburg, on 15 November. In the early hours of 17 November, the Arelion cable, which links the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania, sustained damage. On the subsequent day, the C-Lion 1 cable, connecting the Finnish capital Helsinki with the German port of Rostock, was cut. Information from vessel tracking platforms indicates that the Yi Peng Three traversed the locations of the cables approximately when each was severed. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, investigators surmise that the vessel intentionally harmed the cables by deploying and dragging its anchor across the seabed for a distance exceeding 160km (100 miles). The ship has remained in the Kattegat strait – a waterway between Sweden and Denmark that links the Baltic Sea to the North Sea – since 19 November and is under surveillance by the Danish navy. During a press conference on Thursday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced that his administration had “sent a formal request to China to co-operate with Swedish authorities in order to create clarity on what has happened”. He further stated, “We think it’s extremely important to find out exactly what happened and, of course, we expect also China to comply with the request we have sent.” He also repeated a prior appeal for the ship to return to Swedish waters to allow for its inspection as part of the inquiry, although he clarified that he was not leveling an an “accusation” of any sort. On Friday, China’s foreign ministry responded by stating its readiness to be “willing to work with related countries to find out the truth”. Spokeswoman Mao Ning added, “Currently China and Sweden maintain close communication regarding this.” Since Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Baltic Sea region has experienced increased tension and several occurrences of damage to subsea infrastructure. Notably, in September 2022, multiple explosions created breaches in the two Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting western Europe and Russia, and in October 2023, an undersea telecoms cable between Estonia and Sweden also sustained damage. Last week, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius commented on the most recent incident, stating that “nobody believes that these cables were cut accidentally,” although he refrained from identifying who he thought was accountable. Russia has dismissed any implications of its involvement as “absurd” and “laughable.”