China says int'l community has right to demand thorough probe into Nord Stream blast

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The international community has right to demand a thorough investigation into the Nord Stream pipelines blast that seriously sabotaged vital transnational infrastructure and caused severe consequences, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

Wang said it is extremely necessary to conduct an objective, impartial and professional investigation into the blast of the gas pipelines, once regarded as the lifeline of energy for Europe, because the explosions have had a serious impact on the global energy market and ecological environment.

The spokesperson made the comment in response to latest reports and remarks in support of American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh who disclosed the details of U.S. involvement in the explosions in late September last year.

John Dugan, an American journalist, reportedly received an anonymous mail from the U.S. military, saying that during Baltops-2022, a NATO military exercise held in Denmark in June last year, U.S. deep-sea divers "disappeared underwater for more than six hours" with a box.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University also said that the U.S. "was basically the only country with the motive, the means" to end Nord Stream. Former Advisor to the French defense ministry Alain Corvez said that from the political and economic perspective, the United States is the major beneficiary of the incident.

"In the wake of these revelations, The U.S. government and media have been mysteriously quiet and the countries concerned in Europe seem rather hesitant about how they would react," Wang said.

These unusual signs give people even more reason to believe that the truth behind the Nord Stream blast is more complicated than they can imagine, he added.

"Given the gravity of sabotaging vital transnational infrastructure and the serious consequences arising thereof, the international community has every right to demand a thorough investigation into this," he said.