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Investigators into two severed data cables in the Baltic Sea are looking into the movements of a Chinese bulk carrier, the second such investigation in recent months amid growing concern over possible acts of sabotage in Europe.
The Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-registered ship en route from the Russian port of Ist-Luga to Port Said in Egypt, passed close on Sunday when it each passed close to the Swedish-Lithuanian and Finnish-German cables. . on Monday, according to data provided by the maritime tracking group Marine Traffic. Open source intelligence experts said the cargo ship was then closely followed by the Danish Navy.
Sweden has opened an investigation into both incidents, and is examining what role Yi Peng 3 may have played, people familiar with the investigation said.
“The Swedes are looking hard at the Chinese ship,” said a person with insight into the investigation.
The Swedish government declined to comment on the Chinese craft. But an official said the police investigation will be monitoring the ship’s movements with the help of the coast guard and the armed forces.
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The latest investigations come a little more than a year after another Chinese ship anchored — the container ship New New Polar Bear — damaged a Baltic gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. Finnish and Estonian authorities have not said whether they believe it was deliberate or accidental.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday that the severing of two fiber-optic cables in 24 hours was likely sabotage and an act of hybrid warfare.
He added: “No one believes that these wires were cut by accident. . . . Therefore, we have to state that it is a ‘hybrid’ process, without knowing specifically from whom it came. And we have to understand that this is sabotage.
Yi Peng 3 is owned by Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, a company that owns only one other vessel and is based near the eastern Chinese port city of Ningbo. It was not immediately possible to contact the company. Chinese embassies in Stockholm and Helsinki did not respond to requests for comment.
The US has accused China of providing direct support to Russia’s “war machine” and supplying its military with items that were helping it in its invasion of Ukraine. But there has been little public discussion of Chinese naval activities in the Baltic Sea.
Finnish authorities on Monday urged caution and advised against jumping to conclusions. Officials in Helsinki have said that China has cooperated with an investigation into the damage to the gas pipeline in 2023.
The governments of Germany, Sweden, Finland and Lithuania expressed their “deep concern” over the undersea cable break and did not rule out sabotage.
The countries’ ministers said in a joint statement: “Such situations must be assessed against the backdrop of Russia’s growing threat to our neighbourhood. This includes the growing number of hybrid activities in Europe.”
Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas added: “Following the investigation, the EU and member states should make the best use of their new sanctions regime for the sabotage of such critical infrastructure.”
Cartography by Jana Tushinsky
