The Yi Peng 3 is owned by Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, which owns only one other vessel and is based near Ningbo, an eastern Chinese port city. It was not immediately possible to reach the company for comment.
The incident comes roughly a year after a Chinese vessel’s anchor damaged a Baltic gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. Neither country has confirmed whether the damage was an accident or intentional.
Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, said he believed the C-Lion1 cable was cut deliberately, a view echoed by other EU governments on Tuesday.
“Nobody believes these cables were accidentally severed,” he said. “Therefore, we have to state, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a ‘hybrid’ action. And we also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage.”
‘Escalating hybrid activities’
Hybrid warfare is a Russian strategy to destabilise Nato allies through attacks on critical infrastructure and attempts to sabotage facilities in Europe, which support the Ukrainian army.
A joint statement by France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Britain had previously suggested that Russia was the prime suspect in the cable incident.
“Moscow’s escalating hybrid activities against Nato and EU countries are also unprecedented in their variety and scale, creating significant security risks,” the statement said.
Lithuania said it had increased security patrols around its maritime borders, and Poland threatened to close all Russian consulates if such attacks continued.
US officials have expressed scepticism about the sabotage theory. CNN reported on Tuesday that Washington has not seen any indications of “nefarious activity”, citing two US officials.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin rejected “laughable” suggestions it was involved, saying that it was “absurd to keep blaming Russia for anything without any grounds”.
The Chinese embassy in London has been approached for comment.