US should give responsible explanation on Nord Stream blasts: Chinese FM
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US should give responsible explanation on Nord Stream blasts: Chinese FM
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning Photo:fmprc.gov.cn
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday urged the US to make "a responsible explanation" to the world, after veteran US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, in a latest article, accused the US of being the culprit behind the Nord Stream gas pipelines blasts in September 2022.
Hersh, an 85-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner, published the article on his personal website on Wednesday, stating that the US military was involved in sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines after senior White House officials plotted for nine months within the national security community.
"If Hersh's investigative report is true, this is unacceptable behavior and must be held accountable," said Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
"The US should give a responsible explanation to the world," Mao said at a routine press briefing on Friday when asked to comment on Hersh's article.
Mao said that the Nord Stream gas pipelines are a major piece of transnational infrastructure, and the explosions have had a significant negative impact on the global energy market and the global ecological environment.w
When asked to comment on US mainstream media's silence over Hersh's investigation, Mao stated that "it's not the first time" that US media has done so.
"It proves that some US media outlets do not care what the truth is. They are deaf to the truth that really matters, and what is loudly hyped by them is often not the truth, but a false narrative," Mao said.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova urged the US to give an explanation over its role in the 2022 explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. "The White House must now comment on all these facts," Zakharova said in a post on her Telegram page.
In response, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said on Wednesday that the investigative article was "utterly false and complete fiction," while the CIA and Pentagon also dismissed the allegation using similar rhetoric, according to media reports.
Some US media outlets had pointed to Russia as the likely culprit soon after the Nord Stream explosions in September 2022, but Hersh wrote that political elites from his country had more incentive to destroy the pipeline, considering their words prior to the incident.
Global Times
Kremlin demands probe after Pulitzer-winning journalist alleges US hand in Nord Stream blasts
Raking up the controversy around Nord Stream blasts, Russia on Thursday said those behind it must be exposed and called for an international probe, after Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claimed the US Navy divers had blown up the gas pipeline.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Hersh's blog needs more attention and the Western media must cover it fully. Peskov called for an international investigation into the blast of 1,224 km (760-mile) long pipelines. He added that the world needs to know the truth. He further cautioned that the blog must not be dealt with as a primary source of what had happened.
Dismissing a blog published by the journalist which accused the United States of orchestrating the Nord Stream gas pipelines' explosions, the White House, earlier in the day, said that it is "utterly false and complete fiction".
Hersh had published a report claiming that the explosions were carried out on the directions of US President Joe Biden last September.
"This is utterly false and complete fiction," said White House National Security Council's spokesperson Adrienne Watson. The spokesperson of the State Department and the CIA reiterated the same.
In his report, Hersh claimed that Norway had assisted the US Navy in planting explosives on the Nord Stream gas pipelines which run under the Baltic Sea between Germany and Russia last June and three months later, had detonated them.
WATCH | Leaks in Nord stream gas pipelines raise Europe's concerns about sabotage
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson called the report published by Hersh on the Substack web service as “complete fiction”.
The Nord Stream gas pipelines were part of the multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects, which were set up to supply Russian gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea.
After the blasts took place in the exclusive economic zones of Sweden and Denmark, both nations concluded that the pipelines were deliberately targeted, however, they did not say who might be responsible for the blasts.
The United States along with NATO had called the blasts "an act of sabotage". The West was blamed by Moscow for the unexplained explosions which led to the ruptures.
Hersh claimed the decision to damage the pipelines, which were closed but contained residual gas, was made by US President Joe Biden in secrecy to cut off the ability of Moscow to mint billions of dollars by selling natural gas to Europe.
He further added that the US believed Russia had political leverage over western Europe and Germany due to the pipelines and that blowing up the pipelines can weaken the country's offensive against Ukraine after it invaded the latter.
The foreign ministry of Russia on Wednesday said that the United States needs to answer a few questions and explain its role in the explosion of pipelines.
(With inputs from agencies)
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