German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday the severing of two fibre-optic cables in 24 hours was likely to have been sabotage and was an act of hybrid warfare.

“No one believes that these cables were cut accidentally ... Therefore, we have to state, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a ‘hybrid’ action,” he said. “And we also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage.”

Yi Peng 3 is owned by Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, a company that owns only one other vessel and is based near the eastern Chinese port city of Ningbo, the Financial Times reported, adding it was unable to contact the company.

China’s embassy in Stockholm told the newspaper: “We do not have information on this issue.” Its embassy in Helsinki did not respond to a request for comment.

The US has accused China of offering direct support to Russia’s “war machine” by supplying its military with items that were helping it in its invasion of Ukraine. But there has been little if any public discussion about the activity of Chinese ships in the Baltic Sea.

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