There's speculation the vessel may have been involved in the severing of two fiber-optic cables on the seabed
European allies in the Baltic region are investigating how two fiber-optic data cables were severed earlier this week, with suspicion falling on a Chinese vessel in the area. Germany has said the incident was clearly sabotage.
This makes me wonder why the point of this was. What does China gain by severing a communications cable? Traffic is just going to be re-routed over other links, so all they're really doing is marginally slowing down internet connectivity in the region.
Is this just a way to send a message that they're willing do damage communication infrastructure?
Itâs weird. But I also remember how many were quick to point to Russia for blowing up a pipeline and much later it turned out Russia had nothing to do with it.
The publication is American. Either he knew better and the editor "corrected" him as to "not confuse" the audience or he didn't, or didn't care to double-check, which just means that VOA has no standards when it comes to their correspondents knowing geography. Or their editors, who should catch such obvious mistakes.