The international community has the right to demand a thorough investigation into the attacks on Nord Stream gas pipelines, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

Nord Stream, a critical network of pipelines that carried natural gas from Russia to Europe under the sea, was sabotaged last September.

Noting that the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines had significant negative impacts on the global energy market and the global ecological environment, Wang said it is necessary to carry out an objective, impartial and professional investigation on the incident.

Veteran U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh alleged in a self-published report that U.S. Navy divers helped by Norway had planted explosives on the pipelines running under the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany last June and detonated them three months later. White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson described the report as "complete fiction." 

Phinij Jarusombat, former Thai Deputy Prime Minister, also pointed out the U.S. is the biggest beneficiary and the main suspect behind the Nord Stream attack. 

China's spokesperson said the unusual silence of the U.S. officials and media reinforces the conviction that the explosion incident is extremely complex.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Vasily Nebenzya on Sunday urged the UN Security Council to launch an investigation into the attacks on Nord Stream gas pipelines, saying the UN is capable of establishing mechanisms to investigate such an incident after the UN said it had no mandate. 

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Russia urges UN to investigate Nord Stream blasts after UN says it has no mandate

(Cover: Pipe systems and shut-off devices at the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 2 in Lubmin, Germany, September 28, 2022. /CFP)