China says ready to 'work with' Baltic Sea cut cables probe
China says ready to 'work with' Baltic Sea cut cables probe
Connectivity has been restored after two Baltic Sea data cables were severed in an area where a China-flagged vessel had been sighted. Sweden asked for Beijing's cooperation with an investigation.
Summary
China expressed willingness to cooperate with Sweden’s investigation into the severing of two Baltic Sea data cables on November 17-18, near where a Chinese-flagged vessel, Yi Peng 3, was sighted.
Sweden has formally requested China’s collaboration and asked the ship to move to Swedish waters for inspection.
The cables, linking Finland-Germany and Sweden-Lithuania, have been repaired. Authorities from Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, and Germany are investigating, with Germany suspecting sabotage.
Russia dismissed accusations of involvement as “absurd.” China stated it is in active communication with Sweden.
Pure speculation on my part here, but could it be that this was done at the behest of Russia by the people on the ship, maybe on the orders of the company that owns the ship, but not an officially sanctioned PRC operation?
Or just by a Russian captain on a Chinese ship. This is an earlier article later ones omit this. A few different sources say the captain is Russian, but none of the ones in the news today mentioned it. The only information given is that the ship itself is Chinese.
with the evidence so far pointing to a Chinese merchant vessel with a Russian captain.
It's possible, we won't know until we investigate. Seems very positive for diplomacy that Beijing is open to discussion and investigation here, either way.
Saying you're open to something is also the diplomatic first step of stalling. There no way to know if they are being candid or disingenuous.
That's how EU investigators are thinking too IIRC.
China's government likes to play both sides against the middle. With a population the size of theirs, I wouldn't be the least surprised if they were perfectly fine throwing a few people under the bus on this.
throwing a few people under
the busa tank on this.
part of the cable still hanging off the anchor
China: I don’t see an anchor.
Wonder why getting ready is taking so long after the event