E.U. Vessels Surround Anchored Chinese Ship After Baltic Sea Cables Are Sev

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E.U. Vessels Surround Anchored Chinese Ship After Baltic Sea Cables Are Severed

Multiple countries are investigating and the authorities in Europe say they have not ruled out sabotage. But U.S. intelligence officials have assessed that the cables were not cut deliberately.

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A bulk carrier called the Yi Peng 3 traveling under a Chinese flag was being monitored by Danish naval patrol vessels.Credit...Mikkel Berg Pedersen/Ritzau Scanpix, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Michael SchwirtzMuyi Xiao and Riley Mellen

Nov. 27, 2024

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For more than a week, a Chinese commercial ship has apparently been forced to anchor in the Baltic Sea, surrounded and monitored by naval and coast guard vessels from European countries as the authorities attempt to unravel a maritime mystery.

The development arose after two undersea fiber-optic cables were severed under the sea, and investigators from a task force that includes Finland, Sweden and Lithuania are trying to determine if the ship’s crew intentionally cut the cables by dragging the ship’s anchor along the sea floor.

On Wednesday, the Swedish police announced that the inquiry into the episode had concluded but that an investigation was ongoing. Sweden did not release any initial findings.

American intelligence officials had assessed that the cables were not cut deliberately, though the authorities in Europe say they have not been able to rule out sabotage.

“The preliminary investigation was initiated because it cannot be ruled out that the cables were deliberately damaged,” Per Engström, the superintendent of the Swedish police, said in a statement on Wednesday. “The current classification of the crime is sabotage, though this may change.”

Denmark has said it is in “ongoing dialogue” with various countries, including China.

The mystery of the severed cable and who is to blame comes as Europe is increasingly on edge after a number of apparent sabotage operations, including arson attacks, vandalism and physical assaults. Many of these have been attributed to Russian intelligence operatives, including a plot that emerged last month, Western officials say, to put incendiary devices on cargo planes.

The case surrounding the commercial ship in the Baltic Sea is somewhat different. That ship — a bulk carrier called the Yi Peng 3 — travels under a Chinese flag. The ship, owned by Ningbo Yipeng Shipping Co. Ltd., set off from the Russian port of Ust-Luga in the Baltic Sea on Nov. 15, according to Marine Traffic, a commercial ship tracking agency. From there, it traveled nearly the full length of the Baltic Sea.

The first cable connecting Lithuania and Sweden was cut on the morning of Nov. 17. The second one, connecting Finland and Germany, was cut the following morning. The damage disrupted some data transfers but did not cut internet connections in any of the countries, the authorities said.

Now, investigators are sifting through analyses as ships from nearby countries are patrolling near the Chinese ship.

On Nov. 19, a Danish Navy patrol ship followed and later stopped Yi Peng 3, ship tracking data show. Since then, the Chinese ship has been anchored at that position, in the Kattegat Strait, which connects the Baltic and the North Seas, with a Danish patrol vessel nearby.

In the week since, tracking data show, German Coast Guard vessels and warships, as well as more Danish naval vessels, have sailed to the vicinity. Most stayed for one or two days, then left and were replaced by other ships.

On Wednesday, satellite imagery and tracking data showed that the Chinese ship was flanked by a German Coast Guard and a Danish naval patrol ship, which were both about one mile away. In the evening, two German warships also sailed past the Yi Peng 3.

At one point on Wednesday morning, ship-tracking data show, a Danish naval vessel sailed past the Yi Peng 3 within about 100 feet of the ship.

According to a vessel database, a company called Win Enterprise Ship Management (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. manages Yi Peng 3’s safety protocols. Ningbo Yipeng is registered as the ship’s owner and manager. Attempts to reach Ningbo Yipeng were not successful late Wednesday.

This is not the first time that a Chinese-flagged ship has been suspected of involvement in an episode of this sort in the Baltic Sea. Last year, a ship called the Newnew Polar Bear dropped its anchor and cut through a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. In that instance, the authorities allowed the ship to enter international waters and avoid capture, a mistake that officials said they tried to avoid with the Yi Peng 3.

“It’s totally without question that if critical infrastructure of some countries has been destroyed or seriously damaged, and we have to find out who did it, there cannot be a situation in which one simply walks away from the scene,” Finland’s defense minister, Antti Häkkänen, said after the fiber-optic cables were cut this month.

Reporting was contributed by Julian E. Barnes, Chris Buckley, Melissa Eddy, Christina Anderson, Courtney Brooks and Johanna Lemola.

Michael Schwirtz is an investigative reporter with the International desk. With The Times since 2006, he previously covered the countries of the former Soviet Union from Moscow and was a lead reporter on a team that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for articles about Russian intelligence operations. More about Michael Schwirtz

Muyi Xiao is a Times reporter on the Visual Investigations team covering China. More about Muyi Xiao

Riley Mellen is a reporter on The Times’s visual investigations team, which combines traditional reporting with advanced digital forensics. More about Riley Mellen