Yi Peng 3 and the sabotage of cables in the Baltic Sea

Kinamedia Podcast is Sweden’s biggest podcast about China. It’s usually produced in Swedish, but this episode we make an exception and record in English to discuss last week’s incident with two damaged cables in the Baltic Sea and the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 that is suspected for sabotage and still anchored in the Kattegatt Strait.

Kinamedia’s editor Jojje Olsson is joined by Sari Arho Havrén, China Analyst and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, to talk about why a Chinese cargo ship would possibly destroy cables on the bottom of a sea in Scandinavia.

Was the operation conducted by Russian authorities making use of the Chinese ship, or was it a joint operation by Russia and China? What would China benefit on severing those cables and if Chinese authorities are involved, on what level was contact established and coordination carried out with Russian counterparts?

We also make comparisons with the Chinese ship that destroyed cables and a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea last year, and the constant severing of undersea cables around Taiwan by Chinese cargo ships, fishing vessels and dredgers.

Perhaps even more importantly, we discuss how this case might end as the Yi Peng 3 is moored in Danish waters with the Swedish government requesting it to return to Swedish waters. Will the ship and the Chinese authorities cooperate, or will the vessel be allowed to leave without being subject to investigation and its crew interrogated?

Also - what can be done to prevent similar acts of sabotage in the future?

Relevant links to this episode:

Sari Arho Havrén via X/Twitter: https://x.com/SariArhoHavren

Jojjes text on Yi Peng 3 in Swedish magazine Affärsvärlden: https://shorturl.at/axROU

Wall Street Journal on Yi Peng 3: https://shorturl.at/tQ2wa

Financial Times on the meeting between Nordic and Baltic leaders after the Yi Peng 3 incident: https://shorturl.at/UxPzm

Jojje on New New Polar Bear for Kinamedia news site: https://shorturl.at/M3jUR

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