Sweden officially asks China to cooperate in the investigation of damage to submarine cables

Sweden sent a formal request to China cooperate with its investigations rupture of two underwater data transmission cables on The Baltic Sea bed.

The cables were cut on November 17 and 18, when a Chinese ship And Pen Tri, it was assumed that he was swimming in the area.

China, responding to Sweden’s request, said it was ready to “reveal the truth”, denying any involvement in the alleged sabotage.

A representative of China’s foreign ministry said it would work with the countries concerned to find out how the two submarine cables were damaged.

Swedish President Ulf Kristersson said Thursday that Stockholm is demanding “clarity” from Beijing on how two fiber optic cables were damaged.

“I can tell you today that we have additionally sent a formal request for cooperation with the Swedish authorities to get clarity on what happened,” he told a press conference after a security meeting of the leaders of the Baltic Sea region’s governments.

“We expect that China will choose to cooperate as we have requested.”

The two cables in question are the Arelion cable that connects Sweden with Lithuaniaand the C-Lion 1 cable that runs between them Finland and Germany. They are part of the network infrastructure that facilitates international communication by providing high-speed data connections.

According to data from vessel tracking websites,And Pen Three disembarked from the Ust-Luga post, west of St. Petersburg in Russia, on November 15.

A vessel was tracked passing over the cables around the time the cables were severed on 17 and 18 November.

The next day, the ship was anchored in the Kattegat Strait, a strait between Sweden and Denmark, and was under surveillance by several vessels, including the Danish Navy.

According to A The Wall Street Journal It is suspected that the crew of the Chinese vessel deliberately severed the cables, dragging the anchor through the seabed for more than 100 miles.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed “full solidarity and full support” for Sweden, as it acts in the interests of all countries of the Baltic region.

Authorities in Finland, Sweden and Germany have launched an investigation into the rupture of the two cables.

Germany’s defense minister claimed the damage was an act of sabotage, although there is currently no evidence.

“The cable between Sweden and Lithuania, which belongs to a Swedish company, was damaged on November 17,” the Swedish prosecutor said.

“The cable between Finland and Germany, located south of the Sweden-Lithuania cable, was damaged after a few hours. Both places of damage are located in the economic zone of Sweden.”

The tension escalated in The Baltic Sea after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. During the war, there were a number of incidents related to damage to underwater infrastructure, which cost the countries of the region billions of euros.

Seven months into the invasion in 2020, underwater explosions caused damage Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines which transported natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea. One investigation into the bombings in August said they were carried out by a Ukrainian sabotage group, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has rejected that allegation.

In October 2023, an underwater telecommunications cable between Estonia and Sweden was damaged.