On Monday, August 12th, the Chinese authorities admitted that last October, the Chinese container ship “NewNew Polar Bear” had damaged an important natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea that connects Estonia and Finland. Beijing described this as an accidental incident and has shared the results of the investigation with Finland and Estonia, both of which have been conducting criminal investigations into the matter.
The South China Morning Post reported on Monday that the Chinese authorities conducted an internal investigation and determined that the incident was caused by a severe storm. They have sent the investigation report to the governments of both countries.
The “NewNew Polar Bear” was flying the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the time of the incident, but the ship is registered to the NewNew Shipping Line, a company based in mainland China.
It is reported that the investigation report has been circulated among relevant departments of the governments of Estonia and Finland, but it cannot serve as official evidence in the investigations. The supervisory authorities of both countries are urging Beijing to provide information regarding the ship and to respond promptly to their requests for legal assistance.
Currently, the two countries are conducting a joint criminal investigation into the “NewNew Polar Bear” container ship.
Kairi Küngas, Head of Public Relations at the Estonian Prosecution Office, stated: “We have submitted a request for legal assistance to the Chinese authorities to collect evidence from the ship and its crew. So far, the Chinese authorities have not responded to our request for legal assistance.”
Anna Zareff, Communications Manager of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), stated: “It must be emphasized that the investigation is still ongoing, and only after all necessary investigative measures have been completed can a final conclusion be drawn on the underlying reasons for this incident (technical failure, negligence/poor navigation skills, intentional actions), and this will require some time.”
In May, Triinu Olev, a prosecutor in Estonia, stated: “We need to gather more evidence to determine whether the damage was intentional or accidental.” At that time, Beijing did not provide any information.
These two European Union member states have indicated that the “NewNew Polar Bear” either dragged its anchor along the seabed on the night of October 7 last year, cutting off the Balticconnector gas pipeline and damaging two nearby telecommunications cables.
Sources claim that the Chinese report is said to have followed the rules of the International Maritime Organization. The Chinese Ministry of Justice has not responded to detailed inquiries from Estonia and Finland, but has expressed willingness to later contact European investigative teams.