Experts suspect Chinese hand behind Finland-Estonia gas pipeline damage

Helsinki [Finland], August 23 (ANI): Western officials and analysts are suspicious about the involvement of a Chinese container ship in damaging the Balticconnector Gas Pipeline, a vital Baltic Sea gas pipeline linking Estonia and Finland, reported Voice of America (VOA).

The incident occurred in October last year. According to the Chinese government, the damage was caused by a Hong Kong-registered ship called Newnew Polar Bear. However, Beijing has attributed the destruction to an oceanic storm, despite reports that no such storm occurred, Voice of America reported.

This discrepancy has raised concerns and suspicions among experts who are investigating the incident. In an interview on August 13 with Estonia's public radio, ERR, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said he was sceptical of China's claim that a storm caused the incident, Voice of America reported.

"Personally, I find it very difficult to understand how a ship's captain could fail to notice for such a long time that its anchor had been dragging along the seabed, but it is up to the prosecutor's office to complete the investigation," he said.

Markku Mylly, the former director of the European Maritime Safety Agency, also claimed that the capital of Finland, Helsinki had witnessed no storms in the Gulf of Finland at the time.

Reportedly, a Finnish newspaper, 'Iltalehti' had also consulted data from the Finland Meteorological Institute and confirmed Mylly's claims. Meanwhile, Pevkur in a statement to ERR had mentioned that Estonia will not give up claims against China for compensation of the damage, VOA reported.

According to the VOA report, the Baltic Sea oil and gas pipeline between both countries was built with EU's assistance and was commissioned in 2019 at a cost of around USD 331 million, to detach Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania's dependence on Russia for natural gas.

The questioned pipeline was the source of almost all of Estonia's natural gas supply and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reportedly, after the incident, Estonia hast temporarily relied on Latvia for natural gas.

Quoting a press report, the VOA claimed that, this pipeline was reopened for standard operations in April this year after repairs costing around USD 38 million, the Senior Vice President at Gasgrid Finland had claimed. Additionally, some telecom cables were also reportedly damaged during the incident.

Finnish and Estonian investigative agencies recovered the ship's anchor from the sea floor near the damaged pipeline after the incident. However, these agencies had reportedly tracked the piece back to the ship and had tried to contact the vessel, but it refused to respond.

The incident is timed at a time when there are high tensions between Europe and Russia over sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. However, critics suspect that it was a deliberate act of sabotage orchestrated either by Russia or its ally China. After the damage to the pipeline, the questioned vessel had first sailed to St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk ports in Russia and had later docked in China's port of Tianjin, VOA report stated.

Eoin Micheal McNamara, a global security expert at the Finland Institute of International Affairs was quoted in the VOA stating that Finnish people doubt Beijing's claim that the ship's damage to the pipeline was an accident.

"Undersea infrastructure elsewhere in the wider Nordic-Baltic region has also been damaged by 'manmade activity' in recent years. There was the Nord Stream sabotage in 2022 and the severing of a data cable between Norway and its Arctic island of Svalbard before that," McNamara said. "As geopolitical tensions rise, more targeted sabotage is being expected," McNamara said.

Estonia and Finland are still jointly investigating the ship, which China's NewNew Shipping Company owns, VOA stated.

The Estonian prosecutor's office, which oversees the investigation, said under international law, China's statement acknowledging the ship caused the damage as an "accident" cannot be used as evidence in a criminal investigation because China has not invited Estonian criminal investigators to participate in Beijing's own investigation, VOA stated.

VOA contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the matter but was referred to the Chinese shipping departments. Currently, both Finnish and Estonian federal investigative agencies have commented stating that they are in correspondence and cooperation with the Chinese and will release a report once the investigation is completed.