Will the Chinese ship set to dock at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port be able to spy on India?

Sri Lanka’s close ties with China have made India edgy time and again. Now even as the island nation is in the throes of its worst economic crisis blamed by experts on Beijing’s “debt trap diplomacy”, its recent decision to allow a Chinese research vessel to dock at Hambantota port has raised eyebrows.

India is on alert and the navy is reportedly keeping a close eye on the movement of the ship.

What do we know about the Chinese vessel?

The Chinese research vessel “Yuan Wang 5” is expected to dock at Hambantota port in southern Sri Lanka in mid-August. It is reportedly involved in space and satellite tracking.

Yuan Wang 5 set sail from the Chinese port of Jiangyin on 13 July and after crossing the East China Sea is expected to dock in Sri Lanka from 11 August to 17 August.

The stop at Sri Lanka will be made for “replenishment” while the vessel continues to conduct space and satellite control and research activities in the north-western part of the Indian Ocean Region, according to a report in The Hindu.

The vessel was built in 2007; its overall length is 222 metres and its width is 25.2 metres.

A third-generation tracking ship of the Yuan Wang series, it was built by Jiangnan Shipyard. The Yuan Wang class is not a single class of identical designs but a group of different designs put under the same series that share one name.

Why is the vessel stopping at Hambantota?

The vessel will be in Hambantota mainly for replenishment including fuel, according to Sri Lanka’s defence ministry media spokesman Colonel Nalin Herath.

Located in the hometown of the ousted yet influential Rajapaksa family, the Hambantota port was built largely using loans from China. The port, which is considered important because of its strategic location, was leased to China Merchant Port Holdings after Sri Lanka was unable to repay the loans. This led to fears of the potential use of the port for military purposes, according to a report in The Economic Times.

After denying reports on the docking of the Chinese ship, Sri Lanka has now said that the country routinely gives clearance to commercial and military ships. “We’ve given permission to the Chinese ship in that context,” said Colonel Herath.

“Such vessels periodically come from various countries such as India, China, Japan, and Australia. It is nothing unusual,” he said but did not comment on Sri Lanka earlier denying the entry of the ship.

However, a report in ThePrint says that the exact purpose of the vessel docking at Hambantota is unclear. It remains to be seen whether it is going to the port for a turnaround, replenishment, logistics, or signalling, according to sources.

Why is India worried?

According to the report, while Yuan Wang 5 is not a military ship such vessels start their movements when China or any other country is carrying out missile tests.

The ship was an aerial reach of more than 750 kilometres. It means that it can snoop upon Kalpakkam, Koodankulam, and the atomic research centre within Indian borders. The ship can track ports of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh and gather vital information from installations in south India, reports The Economic Times.

India has a strategic interest in the Indian Ocean Region. The Chinese have been trying to make inroads from Myanmar to Eastern Africa, the report says.

Sri Lanka’s main Tamil minority party Tamil National Alliance on Sunday said that China’s military presence in the Indian Ocean would give India a legitimate defence concern and that Colombo should not accentuate that by providing space for Chinese military presence.

“Chinese spacecraft tracking ship Yuan Wang 5 entering the Hambantota Harbour on August 11 has again given rise to tensions in the region. We do not take sides with regard to power struggles between other countries,” the TNA said in a statement.

What is India doing?

India has said it carefully monitors any development that has an impact on its security and economic interests. “We are aware of reports of a proposed visit by this vessel to Hambantota in August,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in New Delhi when asked about the reports of the docking of the vessel. “The government carefully monitors any development having a bearing on India’s security and economic interests and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them.”

What is China saying?

After a statement from the MEA, China said it hopes that “relevant parties” would refrain from interfering with its “legitimate maritime activities”, news agency Reuters reported.

Has this happened in the past?

India has in the past raised concerns over the presence of the Chinese military or suspected dual-purpose vessels in the Indian Ocean. In January 2020, four to six Chinese research vehicles were spotted in the Indian Ocean region, making the navy wary.

In 2019, the navy pushed out a Chinese naval ship Shi Yan 1, that had come into waters close to the Andaman Islands, reports The Hindu.

In 2014, Sri Lanka allowed a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine Changzheng 2 in Colombo and it led to diplomatic tension with New Delhi. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was then secretary to the ministry of defence, flew to India to meet with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to discuss the matter, the report says.

With inputs from agencies

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