Chinese and Finnish presidents discuss damage to Baltic gas pipeline blamed on Chinese ship

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto have held "constructive" talks about a damaged Baltic gas pipeline.

A Chinese container ship was identified by Finnish police as the main suspect after the 77km-long (48-mile) Balticconnector pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down last October in an incident in which two telecoms cables were also damaged.

The Hong Kong-flagged NewNew Polar Bear container is accused of dragging its anchor across the seabed and cutting through the critical infrastructures. But Finnish police said last year that it was too early to conclude if it was an accident or a deliberate act.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Beijing has reportedly promised full cooperation with the investigation.

In a video call on Wednesday, Xi and Niinisto noted the constructive dialogue between the sides regarding the incident, the Finnish presidential office said.

The talks also touched on the war between Russia and Ukraine and its wider consequences, and Niinisto stressed China's role in bringing about a just and lasting peace, the Finish statement said.

It continued: "The presidents also spoke about the EU-China relations, including recent developments and challenges."

The meeting took place as tensions between China and Europe are growing over a host of issues from trade to security, and Beijing is seeking to foster ties with individual members of the 27-nation European Union.

According to Chinese state media, Xi praised Finland for its "long-standing friendly policy towards China", and thanked Niinisto for promoting pragmatic cooperation and friendly exchanges.

Xi Jinping welcomes Sauli Niinisto to Beijing during a 2019 visit. Photo: AP alt=Xi Jinping welcomes Sauli Niinisto to Beijing during a 2019 visit. Photo: AP>

He stressed that the China-Finland relations have maintained stable and positive trends with cooperation in areas such as forestry, agri-food products, information and telecommunications, energy, environmental protection, science and technology education as well as winter sports, which "brought tangible benefits to the people of our two countries".

Xi said that China would like to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with Finland, jointly advocate multilateralism, safeguard free trade, and make positive contributions to world peace and stability, Chinese state media reported.

"China is willing to work with European countries, including Finland, to see each other from a strategic and long-term perspective, and to maintain and develop China-European relationship," Xi said, according to state news outlets Xinhua and CCTV.

"In the current circumstances of international turbulence and instability, the strategic significance and global impact of China-Europe relations have become more prominent."

Meanwhile, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, the current holder of the EU Council presidency, is expected to arrive in China for a two-day visit that starts on Thursday.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.