Denmark Detains Chinese Ship Suspected in Cable Cutting Incident
A Chinese-owned freighter, Yi Peng 3, linked to the severing of two fiber optic cables on the Baltic Sea floor, has been detained and possibly boarded by the Danish Armed Forces.
The Danish military said on Wednesday that it was staying close to a Chinese ship currently sitting idle in Danish waters, days after two fibre-optic data telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea were severed.
Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 was anchored in the Kattegat strait between Denmark and Sweden on Wednesday, with a Danish navy patrol ship at anchor nearby, MarineTraffic vessel tracking data showed.
"The Danish Defence can confirm that we are present in the area near the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3," the military said in a post on social media X, adding it had no further comments.
It is quite rare for Denmark's military to comment publicly on individual vessels travelling in Danish waters. It did not mention the cable breaches or say why it was staying with the ship.
On Monday, two fiber optic cables, one linking Germany to Sweden and the other linking Lithuania to the Swedish island of Gotland, were severed. The most likely suspect was the Chinese-owned and, according to reports, Russian-captained freighter Yi Peng 3, which was documented doing donuts over the areas where the breaks occurred; see Two Critical Data Cables Cut in the Baltic, and It Looks Like the Prime Suspect Will Get Away With It.
You read that right; the captain of the Yi Peng 3 is reported to be a Russian.
This is the third attack by a Russian or Chinese ship on critical undersea infrastructure in two years.
Incidents with damage to subsea cables and pipelines across Europe have increased in recent years, including in the Arctic. In 2022 Norway reported that an undersea fiber optic cable connecting a satellite ground station on Svalbard to the Norwegian mainland was severed. Norwegian media reported a Russian vessel traveling back and forth several times over the damaged section.
The Finnish investigation of the NewNew Polar Bear incident concluded that the vessel dropped its anchor during a storm dragging it over the Balticonnector pipeline. The vessel had been spotted with a missing anchor during its first port call following the incident.
BACKGROUND: Espionage: Chinese Container Ship Suspected of Deliberately Damaging Estonia-Finland Gas Pipeline
In the words of a joint Finnish-German statement:
We are deeply concerned about the severed undersea cable connecting Finland and Germany in the Baltic Sea. The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times. A thorough investigation is underway. Our European security is not only under threat from Russia‘s war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors. Safeguarding our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies.
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