Sweden criticized China for refusing complete access to the ship suspected of sabotaging the Baltic Sea cable

Unlock Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, FT Editor, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Sweden harshly criticized China for refusing to allow the Nordic country’s chief investigator to board a Chinese ship suspected of cutting two cables in the Baltic Sea.

The Yi Peng 3 left its anchorage in international waters between Denmark and Sweden on Saturday, and appeared to be heading towards Egypt after Chinese investigators boarded the ship on Thursday.

According to authorities in Stockholm, the Chinese team allowed representatives from Sweden, Germany, Finland and Denmark to board as observers, but did not allow access to Henrik Söderman, the Swedish prosecutor.

“That is something the government inherently values. It is worth noting that the ship left without the prosecutor having the opportunity to inspect the ship and question the crew within the framework of the Swedish criminal investigation,” Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said in comments sent. for the Financial Times.

The Swedish government has put pressure on the Chinese government required the bulk carrier to move from international waters into Swedish territory to allow a full investigation into the cutting of the Sweden-Lithuania and Finland-Germany data cables last month.

People close to the investigation said Thursday’s boarding of the ship left little doubt that it was involved in the incident.

Yi Peng 3 is owned by Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, a company that owns just one other vessel and is headquartered near the eastern Chinese port city of Ningbo. A representative for Ningbo Yipeng told the FT in November that “the government has asked the company to cooperate with the investigation,” but did not respond to further questions.

There are divisions among countries over the motives behind cutting cables. Several people familiar with the investigation said they believe poor performance may have caused the Yi Peng 3’s anchor to drag along the seabed in the Baltic Sea.

However, other governments privately said they suspected Russia was behind the damage and may have paid the crew.

The cutting of these two cables is the second time in 13 months that a Chinese ship has damaged infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

the New Polar Beara Chinese container ship, damaged a gas pipeline in October 2023 by dragging its anchor along the bottom of the Baltic Sea a significant distance during a storm. Officials were slow to respond to that incident, allowing the train to leave the area without stopping, something they wanted to prevent in the Yi Peng 3 case.

Nordic and Baltic officials expressed skepticism about the possibility of a similar incident happening twice in a short period of time. “The Chinese must be truly fearsome captains if this continues to happen with impunity,” said one Baltic minister.