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Sweden has announced that it has sent an official request to China for cooperation regarding the suspected sabotage of two underwater cables in the Baltic Sea. The prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said on Thursday that Swedish authorities were seeking "clarity" from China about what happened to two fiber-optic cables between Finland and Germany and Sweden and Lithuania last week.
" I can tell you today that we have also sent a formal request to work together with the Swedish authorities to get clarity about what happened. We expect China to choose to work together as we have asked ," he said. at a press conference.
It comes amid speculation about the Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3, which was sailing on the cables when they snapped and has remained moored in the Kattegat Strait between Sweden and Denmark since November 19, where it is being monitored by multiple ships, including the navy Danish.
Sweden, which is leading the investigation, has refused to comment on the allegations and China's foreign ministry has denied any responsibility.
The Wall Street Journal reported that investigators suspect the crew of the Chinese ship deliberately cut cables last week while dragging an anchor along the seabed for more than 100 miles.
Swedish police and prosecutors declined to comment on the claim, saying they had nothing to add to Wednesday's statements when they announced that crime scene investigations of the two cables had been completed and that analysis was continuing. The Swedish navy and coast guard also declined to comment.
The lack of any seismic signals to indicate explosions, as there have been with the Nord Stream and Balticconnector pipelines, could support the theory that the damage was caused by an anchor, said Norsar, Norway's national data center for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
Kjølv Egeland, a senior researcher at Norsar, said: " There was no explosion or seismic signal, so it could be consistent with this anchoring theory."
The Swedish prosecutor said: “The cable between Sweden and Lithuania, which is owned by a Swedish company, was damaged on November 17. The cable between Finland and Germany, located south of the Sweden-Lithuania cable, was damaged a few hours later. Both sites of damage are located within the Swedish economic zone.”
Finnish police said crime scene investigators of the cable break between Finland and Germany had collected cable samples for further analysis and the damage was being investigated as serious criminal damage and aggravated interference with communications.
Kristersson said on Wednesday that the Baltic Sea is now a "high risk" area as he met Nordic and Baltic leaders at a summit in Harpsund, Sweden.
"We are aware that there is a high risk of various types of activities in the Baltic Sea that are dangerous, " he said./ TheGuardian
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