Sweden has accused China of denying a request for Swedish prosecutors to board a Chinese ship that has been linked to the cutting of two undersea cables in the Baltic despite Beijing pledging “cooperation” with regional authorities.
The Yi Peng 3 left the waters it had been anchored in since last month on Saturday – despite an ongoing investigation.
The ship was tracked sailing over the two fibre-optic cables, one between Sweden and Lithuania, and the other linking Helsinki and Germany, at around the time that they were cut on 17 and 18 November in Swedish territorial waters close to the Swedish islands of Gotland and Öland.
For more than a month afterwards it was anchored in the Kattegat strait between Sweden and Denmark where it was being observed by multiple countries and was boarded by Swedish police and other authorities last week. The ship tracking site VesselFinder showed the Yi Peng 3 heading north out of the strait on Saturday and on Monday China confirmed the ship had left in order to “ensure the physical and mental wellbeing of the crew”.
The Swedish foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said on Monday that China had not cooperated with Sweden’s request to allow Swedish prosecutors onboard.
“Swedish police have been onboard and attended as an observer in connection with the Chinese investigation,” she said. “The state’s accident commission took part in its role as the accident investigation authority. At the same time I can note that China has not listened to our request that the prosecutor should be able to conduct a preliminary investigation onboard.
“Our request that Swedish prosecutors, together with the police and others, be allowed to take certain investigative measures within the framework of the investigation on board remains. We have been clear with China on this.”
Stenergard said that although she expected talks to continue between Sweden and China “at different levels”, it was the prosecutor who had to decide what investigative measures should be taken.
“We have great respect for the preliminary investigation being conducted independently and we are still waiting for its findings,” she added. “I assume we will have continued talks with China about the matter, at different levels, to continue to make our argument and to work for the police and prosecutor to have the conditions to investigate what has happened.”
Earlier on Monday, China pledged to continue its cooperation with regional authorities over the ship.
“The shipowner company, after a comprehensive evaluation and consultation with relevant parties, decided to resume operations,” Mao Ning, a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP. “China has notified all relevant countries in advance. China is willing to maintain communication and cooperation with the countries involved to advance the follow-up handling of the incident.”
Some European officials have said they suspect the cables were sabotaged in connection with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has rejected the accusations as “absurd” and “laughable”.
On Thursday, Swedish, German and Finnish authorities were invited to board the Yi Peng 3 along with a Danish representative as part of a Chinese-led investigation. But the Swedish prosecutor, which is leading a European investigation, was not permitted to board the vessel.
At the end of last month, the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said Swedish authorities had sent a formal request to China for cooperation over the suspected sabotage and was seeking “clarity” from China as to what had happened to the cables.
“Today I can tell you that we have additionally sent a formal request to work together with Swedish authorities to get clarity about what has happened,” he said then. “We expect China will choose to work together as we have requested.”
