Chinese ship suspected of dragging anchor to cut cables in Baltic Sea

Sweden has asked a Chinese vessel to return to Swedish waters to help facilitate an investigation into two severed internet cables in the Baltic Sea, amid fears of sabotage.

Two subsea cables, one linking Finland and Germany and the other connecting Sweden to Lithuania, were damaged in less than 24 hours on 17-18 November, prompting German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius to say he assumed it was sabotage.

Investigators reportedly believe that the Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-registered bulk carrier, deliberately cut the cables by dragging its anchor along the Baltic seabed for about 160km.

“It’s extremely unlikely that the captain would not have noticed that his ship dropped and dragged its anchor, losing speed for hours and cutting cables on the way,” a senior European investigator told the Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ cited law enforcement and intelligence officials as saying they do not believe the Chinese government was part of the suspected scheme

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told the Guardian the Baltic sea is now a “high risk” area after the incident.

“Now we are careful about not accusing anybody right now of anything. We don’t know that this is sabotage. But we are investigating the matter very carefully,” he told the paper.

In a separate press conference he told reporters: “We’re not making any accusations but we seek clarity on what has happened.”

“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 said.

Sweden, Germany and Lithuania all launched criminal investigations last week, zeroing in on Chinese bulk carrier, which left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on 15 November.

An analysis of MarineTraffic data by the Reuters news agency showed that the ship’s coordinates corresponded to the time and place of the breaches.

The ship now sits idle in international waters but inside Denmark’s exclusive economic zone, closely watched by Danish military vessels.

China’s foreign ministry said the communications channels with Sweden and other relevant parties were “unobstructed”, when asked about Sweden’s request.

“I would like to reiterate China’s consistent support working with all countries to maintain the security of international submarine cables and other infrastructure in accordance with international law,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular news briefing on Wednesday.

Western intelligence officials from multiple countries have said they are confident the Chinese ship caused the cuts to both cables. But they have expressed different views on whether these were accidents or could have been deliberate.

US Naval Intelligence assesses that both incidents were an accident, according to a US official, but officials from other countries have said sabotage cannot be ruled out.

Katja Bego, Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House said that while between 150-200 such breaches occur every year and the overwhelming majority are accidents, geopolitical tensions in the region meant an investigation was probably warranted.

“Investigating incidents like this can take a long time, and even if the culprit is found, as appears to be the case here, proving intent is incredibly difficult,” she said. “Neither sabotage nor an accident can be ruled out at this point.”

Russia last week said suggestions it had anything to do with the breaches were “absurd”.

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.

With agencies