Denmark Detains Chinese Ship in Investigation of Two Severed Data Cables in the Baltic Sea

In the Baltic Sea, a Chinese ship was stopped by the Danish Navy as part of an international investigation into an incident involving the cutting of two data cables around the time they were severed. The police have suggested that it could be a case of possible sabotage.

According to some officials, two fiber optic data cables, one connecting Denmark and Lithuania, and the other linking Finland and Germany, were consecutively cut on Sunday and Monday, causing minor disruptions in internet traffic. This triggered a multinational manhunt involving investigators from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Germany.

It is unusual for a foreign ship to be detained without a search warrant. However, Kenneth Øhlenschlæger Buhl, a military analyst and maritime law expert from the Royal Danish Defence College, stated that a rarely used provision in an ancient treaty could give Danes the legal authority to detain Yi Peng 3.

Some officials with knowledge of the investigation suspect that Russia may be behind the sabotage, suggesting that agents from the country might have used the Chinese-flagged ship to provide plausible deniability. Two officials indicated that the likelihood of the Chinese government being aware of any conspiracy is low.