No access by Swedish authorities to the Chinese ship linked to the breakage of two underwater fiber optic communications cables in the Baltic Sea. This is what the Swedish investigators report, who were not authorized by Beijing to conduct investigations on board the Chinese merchant ship. And this despite the reassurances from Beijing, which had said it was ready to “cooperate” with the regional authorities.
Investigations slow and obstructed
Let’s take a step back. On November 17 and 18, two telecommunications cables were cut in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. Suspicions quickly gathered on a Chinese-flagged vessel, the Yi Peng 3, which was sailing in the area at the time of the incident, according to international sites that track vessel movements. The Yi Peng 3, which was anchored in the international waters of the Kattegat Strait, between Sweden and Denmark, is reportedly on its way to Port Said in Egypt.
It was, indeed. Because ship tracking site Vesselfinder showed the Yi Peng 3 heading north out of the strait on Saturday. Today confirmation arrived from Beijing: the ship left “to guarantee the physical and mental well-being of the crew”. According to what Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning declared, “China is willing to maintain communication and cooperation with the countries involved to carry out the management of the incident”, she added, specifying that Beijing informed everyone in advance “the countries concerned” that the ship would leave the Kattegat Strait.
Chinese ship, Russian captain: what we know about the alleged sabotage of cables in the Baltic
But the request of the Swedish authorities to board the vessel to continue the investigation remains alive and unchanged. Last Thursday, Swedish, German and Finnish authorities, accompanied by a Danish observer, were invited to board the freighter for an investigation led by Beijing. Prosecutor Henrik Soederman confirmed to AFP today that it was not possible to take any measures on the ship as part of the Swedish investigation, be it questioning crew members or technical investigations.
But the Swedish authority investigating the accidents was able, within the strict framework of the Chinese investigation, to conduct its own investigations in parallel. “For example, speaking to crew members and carrying out technical assessments”, the general director of Shk underlined to AFP, without specifying whether there had been any exchanges between his Authority and the Prosecutor’s Office.
The accusation of sabotage linked to the war in Ukraine
At the end of November, Sweden had requested China’s collaboration with the investigation, specifying, through Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, that there were no “prosecutions” pending. Suspicious incidents have proliferated in the Baltic and North Seas since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February
2022.
Why so much interest in this case? These actions, which particularly targeted energy and communications infrastructure, according to experts and politicians, fall within the context of the hybrid war between Russia and Western countries, which reached its peak after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.
