Time to Respond to the PRC’s Aggression
The PRC is attacking NATO’s infrastructure and getting away with it. It is well past time for NATO to retaliate.
In three incidents, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has destroyed the communications cables of NATO members. The first was in October 2023. Although it received little attention in the United States, the PRC committed what can be described as an act of war against two NATO member states—Estonia and Finland—and against Sweden. The Hong Kong-registered feeder container ship Newnew Polar Bear left the Russian port of Kaliningrad on October 6, 2023, and arrived in St. Petersburg on the evening of October 8. On the early morning of October 8, the vessel cut the 77-kilometer Balticconnector gas pipeline and a telecommunication cable on the seabed of the Gulf of Finland between Estonia and Finland that adjoins the Baltic Sea.
Additionally, the day before, the Newnew Polar Bear is suspected of cutting a telecommunication cable between Estonia and Sweden. The vessel cut them by dragging its nearly 7-ton anchor along the seabed. Finland’s Minister of European Affairs Anders Adlercreutz stated in a November 30 interview, “I’m not the sea captain. But I would think that you would notice that you’re dragging an anchor behind you for hundreds of kilometers.” He noted as well: “I think everything indicates that it was intentional. But of course, so far, nobody has admitted to it.”
Rather than dragging, it looked like a precision cut, at least of the Balticconnector gas line. It was cut, but curiously not where the Nord Stream 1 pipe A and Nord Stream 1 pipe B are located, which lie within 900 meters of the Balticconnector break, within the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone. The Finns reported that the PRC vessel had been sailing at 11 knots but slowed to 1.1 knots, which is necessary to drop the anchor before it crossed over the Balticconnector pipeline. At 1:20 a.m. the vessel crossed over the Balticconnector, and at the same time, the Norwegian seismology center NORSAR detected a tremor at that location. Curiously, the vessel’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) listed the ship as “moored” when it was near the pipeline. When the Newnew Polar Bear docked in St. Petersburg on the evening of October 8, its anchor was not visible.
Not unsurprisingly, NATO did not take any steps to punish the PRC for the event, which emboldened the PRC to continue its aggression.
The second incident was this month on Sunday, November 17, 2024, when the PRC vessel Yi Peng 3, owned by PRC firm Ningbo Yipeng Shipping Co., departed the Russian port of Ust-Luga on November 15 and likely cut a cable that runs between Lithuania and Sweden. The cable is expected to be repaired in the weeks to come.
Incredibly, the third incident occurred this past Monday, November 18, when the same vessel likely cut a fiber optic cable, C-Lion-1, between Helsinki, Finland, and Rostock, Germany, which lies near where the defunct Nord Stream gas pipeline runs. In a similar pattern, the Yi Peng 3 disconnected its transponder and went over the cable just as it was cut. The Danes have been following this PRC vessel, which is now anchored in Danish waters with a Danish military presence at hand.
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