Beijing admits Hong Kong-flagged ship destroyed key Baltic gas pipeline ‘by accident’
- Beijing passed on findings to Finland and Estonia which are conducting criminal probes into incident involving NewNew Polar Bear: sources
Beijing has admitted that a Chinese-owned ship damaged a critical Baltic Sea gas pipeline running between Estonia and Finland last October, but says it was an accident.
The South China Morning Post understands that the Chinese authorities conducted an internal investigation and recently communicated the results to governments in the European countries.
The Chinese-language report said the accident was the result of a strong storm.
Both countries are still carrying out a joint criminal inquiry centred on the NewNew Polar Bear, a container ship that was flying the Hong Kong flag at the time of the event. Its registered owner is the Chinese mainland firm NewNew Shipping Line.
While it is understood that the report is circulating in various ministries, it is not submissible as official evidence in the investigations. Authorities in both capitals urged Beijing to respond to their urgent requests for information on the ship.
A spokeswoman for the Estonian prosecutor said the document had not been sent to that office and that it “can’t be used as evidence in an Estonian criminal investigation” in any case.
