BEIJING – China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday called for an “objective, fair and professional” investigation into damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline, adding that a Chinese vessel being held responsible was sailing “normally”.

China and Finland have started communication over the matter, and China hopes that investigators can determine the truth as soon as possible, Ms Mao Ning, the ministry’s spokeswoman, told reporters.

An investigation into the pipeline damage is currently focused on the role of the Chinese NewNew Polar Bear container vessel, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Friday.

Ms Mao said: “It is understood that the Chinese vessel was normal in the relevant waters at the time of the incident, and no abnormalities were found due to the poor sea conditions at that time.”

She added that China has always advocated that the international community strengthen cooperation and jointly safeguard the security of cross-border infrastructure.

Early on Oct 8, a gas pipeline and a telecoms cable connecting Finland and Estonia were broken in what Finnish investigators said may have been sabotage, though they have yet to conclude whether it was an accident or a deliberate act.

Sweden said a third link, connecting Stockholm to Tallinn, was damaged at roughly the same time as the other two.

Estonian investigators, who are also looking into the telecoms cable incidents, said they were looking at two ships, the NewNew Polar Bear and Russia’s Sevmorput.

Only these two ships were present at all three incident sites around the time when the incident happened, according to vessel tracking data reviewed by Reuters.

Finland’s NBI said “a heavy object” was found on the seabed near the pipeline damage, and that it was investigating whether this was linked to the incident. REUTERS