Sweden urges Chinese ship to return for undersea cable investigation

COPANHAGEN: Sweden is asking a Chinese vessel to return to Swedish waters to help facilitate the Nordic country's investigation into recent breaches of undersea fibre-optic cables in the Baltic Sea, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday.

Two subsea cables, one linking Finland and Germany and the other connecting Sweden to Lithuania, were damaged in less than 24 hours on Nov. 17-18, raising suspicions of sabotage, countries and companies involved said.

Denmark's military said soon afterwards that its vessels were staying close to Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, which travelled through the Baltic Sea at the time and now sits idle in international waters but inside Denmark's exclusive economic zone.

The breaches occurred in Sweden's exclusive economic zone, leading Swedish prosecutors to launch a preliminary investigation.

"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.

The Chinese ship left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Nov. 15 and was in the areas where the cable damage occurred, according to traffic data, which showed other ships had also been in the area.

"We're not making any accusations but we seek clarity on what has happened," Kristersson said.

"This is the second time in a relatively short period of time that there have been serious physical cable breaches," he said.

Sweden was hopeful that China would respond positively to the request, Kristersson added.

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.

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