The Hong Kong-registered vessel NewNew Polar Bear was in the vicinity of two different Baltic Sea pipelines when they were damaged earlier in October, and has now become the focus of the police investigation.
The Chinese government has cautioned Finland and Estonia about an ongoing investigation into damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, which authorities have described as ‘sabotage’.
It comes after Finnish police revealed that a Hong Kong-registered ship called the NewNew Polar Bear was sailing in the vicinity of the Finland-Estonia gas and communications pipeline when it was badly damaged in October.
Any idea what benefits china gets for doing it?
I can list off half a dozen reasons but no evidence behind it.
Best one I have is proving their ability to attack a vulnerable node in global comms and logistics - a common target in modern warfare and this is only based on the knowledge this is a thing in a modern world.
And deep in Europe.
If they practiced trying to cut some random cable in the East China Sea it might raise suspicions, right? Maybe better to practice somewhere else.
Especially so close to an active war zone where another party could easily be blamed.
China seems to be in a generally “Everybody just calm the fuck down mode” while continuing its policies around incrementalism in the south China sea.
Shit has been perpetually tense since like, 2015, but has been at a bit of a fever pitch of late.
I think part of it is that Xi knows he cannot successfully retake Taiwan within his lifetime, something that he has been talking about for at least a decade. So they are ramping up the agro with others South China Sea countries to display, for internal consumption, that they are still the hard men they want want to be.
Russia used to sell Finland gas. They just finished a new pipeline from Estonia. Winter is coming up.