China on Wednesday said that it was unaware of the possible involvement of a Chinese ship in the damage reported on two communication cables in the Baltic Sea.
According to the Financial Times report the Chinese-flagged freighter Yi Peng 3 was sailing near the submarine cables around the time of the incident.
Surprisingly, the Chinese Foreign Office stated that it was not aware of the situation.
China has always fulfilled its obligations and requires its ships to strictly adhere to maritime laws, spokesman Lin Jian said in Beijing.
He added that China attaches great importance to the protection of undersea infrastructure.
The spokesman’s comments came two days after authorities reported damage to two cables in the Baltic Sea, between Finland and Germany and linking Sweden and Lithuania in the other.
Officials from Finland’s state-owned Cinia company said that they believe a cable was severed by an external force, such as an anchor or a bottom trawl.
Further reports in Swedish and Finnish media have revealed the Chinese vessel’s automatic identification system signal suddenly disappeared when it was in the vicinity of the damaged cables.
Swedish Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said unusual movements of an unnamed ship coincided with the damage to the cables.
Swedish broadcaster SVT reported that naval vessels from NATO countries shadowed the ship, which was coming from a Russian oil port, following the incident.
Several Danish Navy patrol ships are said to have followed the ship, although the report has not yet been officially confirmed.
However, vessel tracking services showed on Wednesday morning that at least two Danish military ships were in the Kattegat sea area between Denmark and Sweden around the vicinity of the YiPeng3.
The Chinese ship was reportedly at anchor but it remained unclear whether it was detained or stopped for another reason.
Swedish authorities have launched an investigation into the incidents. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Tuesday suggested the damage was likely a result of an act of sabotage. (dpa/NAN)
