Islam Uddin
22 February 2023•Update: 22 February 2023
ANKARA
China on Wednesday urged the United Nations to investigate the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions.
During a regular press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing believes that it's very necessary to launch an objective investigation to find out the truth about the Nord Stream.
"The UN, as the most authoritative organization, should play an active role," Global Times quoted Wang as saying.
"Nord Stream's sabotage was not an accident but a deliberate act. If we don't find out the truth and who is responsible, this will encourage ill-intentioned people to launch more terrorist attacks, dealing a blow to global security," he added.
Last week, China also questioned the US silence following an award-winning journalist’s investigative report on the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions.
"Why has the US changed its high tone of demanding an inquiry into the Nord Stream explosion but become silent after US journalist Seymour Hersh’s revelation?" Wang Wenbin questioned.
His remarks came after Russia's lower house of parliament, formally known as the State Duma, voted unilaterally to prepare an appeal to the UN Security Council, asking for an investigation into the explosions at Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
The blasts took place on Sept. 26 last year, causing major ruptures and gas leaks from the two pipelines that run from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
Officials from countries in the region have said sabotage was a likely cause of the incident.
On Feb. 8, an American investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Seymour Hersh, published the results of his own investigation into the explosions, claiming that the US Navy divers, with the support of Norwegian specialists, laid explosive devices under Russian gas pipelines in June 2022 under the cover of the Baltops military exercises.
According to Hersh, the decision about the operation was made by US President Joe Biden following nine months of discussions with administration officials, responsible for national security issues.
*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid
