China on Tuesday expressed support for speeding up an objective, impartial and professional investigation into the Nord Stream gas pipelines sabotage, and called for early release of the findings and pursuing accountability as soon as possible.

"Any deliberate sabotage of transboundary infrastructure is a malicious act. Failure to find out why it happened and who is behind the destruction will send a wrong signal to those with ill intentions and make them believe that they can get away with whatever they do," China's permanent representative to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, told a UN Security Council briefing on the issue.

Zhang noted that China welcomes the draft resolution tabled by Russia in the Council, and believes that it is of great significance to authorize an international investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines. 

Russia, which called for the meeting, wants the 15-member council to ask for an independent inquiry into the blasts on the pipelines connecting Russia and Germany, which spewed gas into the Baltic Sea and worsened a European energy shortage.

In advance of the meeting on Tuesday, Denmark, Germany and Sweden sent a joint letter to Security Council members that their investigations have established the pipelines were extensively damaged by powerful explosions due to sabotage and the investigations have not yet concluded.

"At this point, it is not possible to say when they will be concluded. The authorities of Denmark, Germany and Sweden have been in dialogue regarding the investigation of the gas leaks, and the dialogue will continue to the relevant extent," the letter said.

They said the consequences from the leaks in terms of greenhouse gas emissions were "substantial and worrisome."

Nord Stream 1 carried Russian gas to Germany until Moscow cut off supplies at the end of August 2022. Nord Stream 2 never entered service as Germany suspended its certification process shortly before the Russia-Ukraine conflict began. The explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines took place on September 26.

Russia has alleged the U.S. was behind the attack and the U.S. has denied the allegation.

Recently a report by U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh caught public attention as it disclosed how the U.S. intelligence agencies planned the sabotage and how the U.S. Navy carried out the bombing with the cooperation of the Norwegian forces.

Though the U.S. quickly denied the report, experts didn't think so.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University 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.

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(With input from agencies)