Sweden urges Chinese ship to return for undersea cable investigation

Sweden is asking a Chinese vessel to return to Swedish waters to help facilitate an investigation into recent breaches of undersea fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Tuesday, although he stressed he was not making any accusations.

Two subsea cables, one linking Finland and Germany and the other connecting Sweden to Lithuania, were damaged in less than 24 hours on Nov. 17 and 18, prompting German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to say he assumed it was sabotage.

Sweden, Germany and Lithuania all launched criminal investigations last week, zeroing in on Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, which left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Nov. 15. A Reuters analysis of MarineTraffic data showed that the ship’s coordinates corresponded to the time and place of the breaches.

The ship now sits idle in international waters but inside Denmark’s exclusive economic zone, closely watched by Danish military vessels.

“From the Swedish side we have had contact with the ship and contact with China and said that we want the ship to move towards Swedish waters,” Kristersson told a press conference, adding it would help facilitate the investigation.

“We’re not making any accusations but we seek clarity on what has happened,” Kristersson said.

China’s foreign ministry said the communications channels with Sweden and other relevant parties were “unobstructed,” when asked about Sweden’s request.

“I would like to reiterate China’s consistent support working with all countries to maintain the security of international submarine cables and other infrastructure in accordance with international law,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular news briefing on Wednesday.

Western intelligence officials from multiple countries have said they are confident the Chinese ship caused the cuts to both cables. But they have expressed different views on whether these were accidents or could have been deliberate.

U.S. Naval Intelligence assesses that both incidents were an accident, according to a U.S. official, but officials from other countries have said sabotage cannot be ruled out.

Katja Bego, Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House, told Reuters that, while between 150-200 such breaches occur every year and the overwhelming majority are accidents, geopolitical tensions in the region meant an investigation was probably warranted.

“Investigating incidents like this can take a long time, and even if the culprit is found, as appears to be the case here, proving intent is incredibly difficult,” she said. “Neither sabotage nor an accident can be ruled out at this point.”

Russia last week said suggestions it had anything to do with the breaches were “absurd”.

Kristersson said he was hopeful that China would respond positively to the request to move the ship to Swedish waters. China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Beijing has maintained “smooth communication” with all parties involved.

Last year a subsea gas pipeline and several telecoms cables running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea were severely damaged, and Finnish police have said they believe the incident was caused by a Chinese ship dragging its anchor.

But the investigators have not said whether they believe the damage in 2023 was accidental or intentional.