Controversial Chinese Ship to Dock in Sri Lanka
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 13: Caught in a delicate diplomatic spot dealing with two of its close partners with competing geostrategic interests in the island, Sri Lanka’s government on Saturday granted permission for a controversial Chinese research vessel to visit the island for which India had expressed security concerns.
After India raised some objections, Sri Lanka delayed the ship’s arrival by five days and permitted its docking only for a week at the Hambantota deep sea port in the island.
The Yuan Wang 5 is described as a research and survey vessel by international shipping and analytics sites, but is said to be a dual-use spy ship and India has expressed concerns that it could spy on New Delhi’s military installations. New Delhi is suspicious of Beijing’s increasing presence in the Indian Ocean and influence in Sri Lanka, seeing both as being firmly within its sphere of influence.
The Yuan Wang 5 was originally due to call at Sri Lanka’s Chinese-run Hambantota port on August 11 but following India’s concern Colombo had asked Beijing to indefinitely defer its visit..
Sri Lanka government sources said although India had raised concerns with President Ranil Wickremesinghe himself, the country failed to give a “satisfactory response” as to why the ship should not be allowed to dock.
“On 12 August 2022 the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China informed the Ministry via Diplomatic Note that the Vessel YUAN WANG 5 was scheduled to arrive in the port of Hambantota on 16 August, 2022 and applied for clearance for replenishment purposes,” Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry said it held “extensive consultations” at a high level through diplomatic channels with “all parties” concerned, with a view to resolving the matter in a spirit of “friendship, mutual trust and constructive dialogue, taking into account the interests of all parties concerned.” While the Ministry said the developments were “in light of certain concerns raised with the Ministry,” it stopped short of naming India in its statement.
“Having considered all material in place, on 13 August 2022 the clearance to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China was conveyed for the deferred arrival of the vessel from 16-22 August 2022,” the Ministry said, confirming the development, and the duration of the vessel to be berthed at the southern Hambantota port.
Further, the Ministry stated that when it had cleared the scheduled visit earlier in July, it was based on the Defence Ministry’s conditions that the visiting Chinese vessel’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) be kept switched on within the EEZ of Sri Lanka and that no scientific research be conducted in Sri Lankan waters.
Port officials said the Chinese vessel was about 1,000 kilometres southeast of Sri Lanka on Friday night and was heading slowly towards the Hambantota deep sea port.
Sri Lanka leased the port to China for 99 years for $1.12 billion, less than the $1.4 billion Sri Lanka paid a Chinese company to build it. According to sources in the Indian government, the Yuan Wang 5 could be employed for space and satellite tracking and has specific uses in intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
However, the government had rejected China’s insinuations that New Delhi pressured Colombo against the ship’s visit even as it asserted that it would take decisions based on its security concerns. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Sri Lanka, as a sovereign country, makes its own independent decisions and noted that India would make its judgment on its security concerns based on the prevailing situation in the region, especially in the border areas.
“We reject the insinuations in the statement about India. Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and makes its own independent decisions,” Bagchi said when asked about the issue at a media briefing.
Sri Lanka’s fresh approval for the docking of the Chinese ship effectively points to a five-day postponement of the arrival of the Chinese ship, and a week’s stop as was earlier planned.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air force has gifted a Dornier 228 Maritime Patrol Aircraft to the Sri Lankan Air Force, and another aircraft is to be donated within two years, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has said. The aircraft is expected to be handed over in a formal ceremony on August 15, in the presence of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The gesture, according to the SLAF, was in response to a request made by the Sri Lankan government to India in 2018 for two Dornier Reconnaissance Aircrafts to enhance the island’s maritime surveillance capabilities.
In March this year, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence announced signing two maritime pacts with India, through which Sri Lanka was to receive a Floating Dock Facility and a Dornier Reconnaissance Aircraft at no cost. The agreements “will not result in hindrance or threat to the national security of Sri Lanka,” the Defence Ministry then said, amid criticism from the political opposition over the apparent secrecy of the agreements, signed without any official announcement.
