COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The Danish military confirmed Thursday that it was monitoring a Chinese bulk carrier believed to be in the area where two submarine data cables were ruptured in the Baltic Sea in recent days.
Finnish, Swedish and German authorities launched an investigation earlier this week into the rupture of two submarine cables: one between Finland and Germany, the other between Lithuania and Sweden. They are all members of the NATO alliance.
According to news reports, a Chinese-flagged ship, the Yi Peng 3, had been in the area at the time of the breaches.
VesselFinder.com, which tracks the movements of maritime vessels, located the Danish patrol boat P525 about one nautical mile away from the Chinese-flagged vessel between Denmark and Sweden on Thursday morning European time.
“The Danish defense can confirm that we are present in the area near the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3,” Henrik Hall Mortensen, a Danish military spokesman, said in an email.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news briefing that Chinese authorities had no information about the ship but said China was willing to “maintain communications” with relevant parties.
He called for the protection of the Chinese ship’s rights to normal navigation.
The ruptures come more than a year after Sweden announced a “deliberate” rupture of a submarine cable to Estonia via the Black Sea, which was also left unexplained.
