The Chinese government newspaper Global Times, citing Communist Party-approved “experts,” predicted on Wednesday that the world may never know the cause of the “unusual leaks” of the two Nord Stream pipelines previously used to send natural gas from Russia to Europe – but cast its suspicion towards the United States.
Natural gas began erupting out of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines this week from the bottom of the Baltic Sea, an incident the company in charge of the infrastructure called “unprecedented” and may likely be the result of irreversible damage. The Nord Stream pipelines have been the subject of tremendous controversy since Russia escalated the eight-year-old war against neighboring Ukraine in February, as Europe’s dependence on Russian gas has weakened its ability to respond in defense of Ukraine. The war was preceded by left-wing President Joe Biden removing sanctions imposed on the never-completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline under his predecessor, former President Donald Trump last year, a move that an irate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the time “confused” and “disappointed” him.
Nord Stream 1 was reportedly not functioning when the leaks began as a result of European sanctions on Russia, which prompted Moscow to stop shipping gas to the continent.
At press time, the governments of Sweden and Denmark, which control the waters around the leaks, have confirmed four leaks in the pipelines. Multiple affected governments have claimed that the leaks are impossible without some act of sabotage and that seismic activity indicates explosions preceded the leaks.
“Today we faced an act of sabotage, we don’t know all the details of what happened, but we see clearly that it’s an act of sabotage, related to the next step of escalation of the situation in Ukraine,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday.
The Russian government has announced it will call for a United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation and has hinted at its suspicion that the government of the United States bombed the pipeline. European countries, in turn, have suspected that Russia sabotaged its own lucrative pipeline.
The Chinese government, which has refused to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine despite calling Moscow a close ally, has not weighed in on the situation through its Foreign Ministry at press time. The Global Times, however, which serves as an informal mouthpiece for the government, published two articles on Wednesday and Thursday calling the situation an “accident” – a word none of the involved parties has used – and blaming the United States.
“The US can achieve three goals,” the Global Times speculated, by bombing the pipeline: “striking Russia’s energy export to attack its overall economic and financial revenues, to limit Europe’s energy supplies and make it buy more crude oil and gas from the US with higher prices and to strictly control the lifeblood of European countries.”
“The US, while supplying the EU, was reaping the benefits of higher gas prices, and it is also possible that some US companies may buy Russia-originated gas, liquefy it, and sell it to European buyers for a profit,” a Chinese regime-approved “expert” speculated.
The state newspaper nonetheless concluded in one analysis that the world may never know the origin of the leaks.
“Chinese observers said the incident could become a forever mystery given the interests of various parties involved,” the Global Times reported, adding:
While some observers said the US should be the one to blame, the possibility of some intelligence agencies or regional command offices involved can’t be ruled out as the incident will weaken the role of Russian energy in the European market and complicate the Russia-Ukraine crisis, leading the already-struggling European countries to face a more miserable winter.
In an official editorial, the Global Times asserted that no theory has been backed with “credible evidence” and an attack on a gas pipeline was “very odious in nature,” but referred to the leaks twice as an “accident.”
“It is not difficult to feel that there is an invisible scissors cutting the ties of interests between Russia and Europe. Those who control the scissors are playing politics,” the editorial proclaimed. “When the ties of interests are cut off, Russia and Europe will be left with a tragic confrontation, and the lives of a large number of ordinary people will turn out to be the biggest victim.”
“Now, the pipeline accident has once again compressed the room for parties involved in the conflict to reach a political settlement,” it continued. “If Russia and European countries can cooperate in accident investigation, even if such cooperation is extremely limited, it will be a green olive branch in the black storm, which will help ease the confrontation and avoid the spiral of contradictions.”
Hu Xijin, the former top editor of the Global Times, has used his Twitter account to directly blame the United States for the leaks. Hu was abruptly removed from running the propaganda newspaper last year after failing to cover up the Communist Party’s disappearance of tennis champion Peng Shuai, but remains a commentator for the newspaper and regularly uses his account on Twitter to attack America. Chinese citizens are only legally allowed on Twitter if they are government agents; regular citizens must use Beijing-controlled Chinese social media applications:
China bizarrely took the opportunity to reinforce in public statements its military alliance with Russia on Thursday, just as the intrigue surrounding the Nord Stream pipelines grew. A spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry, Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, announced plans to expand military cooperation against “hegemony,” or the United States, the Russian news network Tass reported.
“At the next stage, Tan pledged, China is planning, among other things, to embark on joint efforts with Russia to deepen strategic contacts between the two countries’ armed forces, while moving ahead with expanding business cooperation across all spheres” according to Tass. “In addition, Bejing seeks to consistently add new strategic depth to bilateral relations and actively contribute to maintaining international peace and stability.”
China has also sought deepening economic ties with Europe, particularly encouraging European nations to replace its fossil fuels, such as natural gas, with Chinese-made “renewable” products such as solar panels. China held an “investment conference” in September to entice European companies to cut business deals for solar panels and similar “green” items at the beginning of this month.
In February, the month Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced a “special operation” to expand the nearly decade-long war in Ukraine, China boasted that Europe is the destination for 39 percent of China’s solar panel exports, more than any other region.
“Despite lingering tariffs placed on Chinese solar products, the export value of China-made PV products hit a historic high at over $28 billion in 2021, with the European market reporting the largest growth at 72 percent year-on-year,” the Global Times reported.
A few months later, in May, the Global Times celebrated a European Union plan to “save up to 35 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2030 through energy saving, diversification of energy supplies, and the accelerated roll-out of renewable energy” to largely be made possible by purchasing Chinese “green” products. The Times expressed particular enthusiasm for the E.U.’s plan to increase investment in photovoltaic (PV) technology, which helps convert solar energy into electricity.
“China’s PV enterprises can seize the opportunity of this energy revolution to promote international cooperation in this sector, as the country has been the world’s largest producer and exporter of PV products with high quality and low cost for many years,” an anonymous “source” told the state newspaper.
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