Sweden negotiates with China over suspected cable sabotage
- We have been in contact with the ship and with China, and have stated that we want the ship to move toward Swedish waters, stated Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Since last week, the bulk carrier has been in international waters in the Kattegat Strait. The crew is suspected of breaking cables in the Baltic Sea.
Kristersson highlighted that while they strongly desire a response after the abovementioned statement, none has been received from the Chinese side thus far.
The crew of the Chinese ship is suspected of breaking two telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea. The vessel is being monitored by the Danish Navy and the Swedish Coast Guard. The Danish broadcaster Danmarks Radio reported that the ship has a damaged anchor.
According to Kristersson, the Swedish authorities want to clarify what happened on the Baltic Sea floor. - We’re not making any accusations but we seek clarity on what has happened - he stressed.
On Monday, public broadcasters in Denmark and Sweden, DR and SVT, reported that diplomatic efforts are underway to convince the ship's crew to allow representatives of the Scandinavian authorities on board.
The status of international waters makes it difficult to undertake actions such as searching the ship or interviewing the sailors. Last week, the Swedish prosecutor's office launched an investigation into possible sabotage.
Over the weekend, the Swedish Navy, acting on the orders of the prosecutor's office in Stockholm and the police, completed documentation of the locations on the seabed where on November 16 and 17 undersea cables were cut. The telecommunications connections linking Lithuania with Sweden and Finland with Germany were damaged. Both locations are in the Swedish economic zone.
The Kattegat Strait is located between Denmark and Sweden.
Damaged ship anchor. "Twisted in an unusual way"
Experts speaking to Danish media observed that the anchor's ends show signs of unusual twisting. Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen, a defence analyst at Nordic Defence Analysis, told Danmarks Radio that investigating whether the ship's anchor might have caused the cable damage is standard procedure in such incidents.
- No one believes that the cables were accidentally damaged. I also don’t want to believe that the ships’ anchors caused the damage by accident - stated Boris Pistorius, the German Defence Minister, quoted by Reuters. A similar incident occurred last year when the Chinese container ship NewNew Polar Bear damaged a gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland.
