Sweden 'formally requests' China to probe Yi Peng Three, the ship accused of damaging cables

Amid the brewing tensions in the Baltic region, Sweden has formally asked China to cooperate with an investigation into the damage of two cables in the Baltic Sea. The authorities linked a Chinese ship to the incident. The two cables – one linking Sweden to Lithuania, the other linking Finland to Germany 00 were damaged on November 17 and 18 respectively.

The authorities claim that a Chinese ship named the Yi Peng Three was believed to have been in the area at the time of the incidents. However, the vessel in question has now anchored to the international waters off Denmark. Meanwhile, China has already denied any sort of involvement in the incident.

According to BBC, the Yi Peng Three left the Russian port of Ust-Luga, west of St Petersburg, on November 15. On 17, the Arelion cable between Sweden and Lithuania was damaged. The following day, the C-Lion 1 cable between the Finnish capital Helsinki and the German port of Rostock was severed.

All eyes are now on the Chinese ship

According to the authorities, the data ship tracking website suggested that the Yi Peng Three sailed over the cables at around the same time each of the cables was damaged. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal, reported that investigators involved in the case suspect that the ship “deliberately damaged the cable,” by dropping and dragging the anchor along the sea bed.

The ship is currently sailing in the Kattegat Strait - a passage between Sweden and Denmark that connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. It has been in the region since November 19 and has been closely monitored by the Danish Navy.

While speaking about the incident, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that “nobody believes that these cables were cut accidentally”, though he did not specify who he believed was responsible. Meanwhile, Russia has already rejected its involvement in the case calling any such claims “absurd” and “laughable”.

Sweden’s PM makes a formal request to China

Amid the chaos, on Thursday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference that his government had “sent a formal request to China to co-operate with Swedish authorities to create clarity on what has happened”.

“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 said. The premier of the Nordic nation went on to reiterate that an earlier request for the ship to be moved back into Swedish waters was made to the Chinese authorities.

While Kristersson insisted that he was not making “accusations” of any sort, he insisted that if the Chinese ship comes back to the Swedish waters, the local authorities would be able to investigate it.

The Baltic Sea has witnessed all sorts of turbulence ever since the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war started. In September 2022, a series of explosions blew holes in the two Nord Stream gas pipelines between western Europe and Russia, and in October 2023 damage was done to an undersea telecoms cable between Estonia and Sweden.

With inputs from agencies.