Chinese Vessel Suspected of Cutting Baltic Subsea Cables

The Danish navy has boarded a Chinese bulk carrier suspected to have severed two underwater fibre-optic cables in the Baltic Sea, between Europe and Scandinavia, early this week.

The cables between Finland and Germany, and Sweden and Lithuania, were cut within 24 hours last Sunday and Monday (November 17-18) in incidents that European officials strongly believe to be sabotage.

The Danish Navy detained the Yi Peng 3, a 225-metre-long bulk carrier, in the Kattegat Strait near the exit of the Great Belt, the largest of the three Danish Straits that connect the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, according to reports in Defence24 and Eurasia Daily.

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The vessel, which is currently anchored while officials from four European countries investigate the vessel, which had been docked at the remote Russian port of Ust-Luga before navigating through the Baltic Sea.

It allegedly passed over the two cables about 10 minutes before each were severed, according to a report by Scandasia.

Peter Møller, a digital intelligence correspondent for Denmark’s TV2, who tracked the Yi Peng 3’s movements, was quoted as saying: “The timing is crucial, with a maximum interval of 10 minutes between when the two cables suffered reported damage and when the Chinese ship passed by their location.”

Such coincidences raised suspicion that the vessel was involved in the cable damage, he said, but noted that one cable lay at a depth of 170 metres, which was “very deep” if someone wanted to sabotage the cable with an anchor chain. So that complicated the narrative pointing to the Chinese vessel, the report said.

Moscow: Undersea cables ‘legitimate targets’

The incidents are no surprise, given that both Washington and Moscow warned that underwater infrastructure could be hit.

NATO issued an alert in May after reports Russia had been mapping underwater cable networks. An investigation in 2023 had found that Moscow was operating a fleet of purported intelligence boats in Nordic waters that was suspected to be targeting wind farms and submarine cables.

Dmitry Medvedev, the hawkish deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, warned in June that undersea cables which enable global communications had become a legitimate target, following the sabotage of the NordStream2 pipeline in September 2022 that relayed gas from Russia to Germany.

And most European officials appear to believe that is exactly what has happened.

“Nobody believes that these cables were accidentally severed,” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was quoted as saying by CNN. “We have to know that, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a hybrid [warfare] action and we also have to assume that, without knowing by whom yet, that this is sabotage.”

Foreign ministers from Finland and Germany released a joint statement late on Monday that said “the fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times.”

“Our European security is not only under threat from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors,” they said.

Chinese boat destroyed pipeline in late 2022

And, this is the second time a Chinese vessel has been accused of damaging underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

In August, China admitted that a Hong Kong vessel destroyed the Baltic Connector, an important gas pipeline from Finland to Estonia in October 2022. But it claimed the incident was accidental and caused by a strong storm, according to a report by the South China Morning Post.

The latest drama occurred just after the Biden Administration gave permission to Ukraine to use long-range US weapons to attack the Kursk region in its ongoing war with Russia.

On Wednesday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected claims of Russian involvement in the cables being cut, saying it was “quite absurd to continue to blame Russia for everything without any grounds.”

China has also denied any involvement in sabotage. Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “China has always fulfilled its obligations and requires its vessels to comply strictly with maritime law.”

Recent reports say it is unclear whether the Chinese vessel was ordered to stop or halted voluntarily.