Sri Lanka allowed boarding of controversial Chinese ship

The Sri Lankan government has allowed a Chinese research vessel to dock at a major port on the island despite concerns from India that the ship could spy on military bases in New Delhi, officials said.

International maritime surveillance and data analysis platforms describe the Yuan Wang 5 as a research and survey vessel, while the Indian media considers it a spy vessel.

India is concerned about China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka, which it claims is part of its sphere of influence.

Yuan Wang 5 is actually August. It was supposed to arrive at the Chinese-held Hambantota port on the 11th, but Colombo kept pushing back the ship’s stay in the face of Indian protests.

“I received the authorization (from the Ministry of External Affairs) today,” said Nirmal P., a Sri Lanka Port Authority official. Silva told AFP that the vessel was allowed to stay at Hambantota from August 16 to 22.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said Colombo had finally restored its authority as Sri Lanka needed international assistance, initially given on July 12 “in a spirit of goodwill”.

Port officials said the Chinese vessel was about 1,000 kilometers southeast of Sri Lanka on Friday evening and was slowly heading towards Hambantota port.

In 2017, Colombo defaulted on a $1.4 billion debt it contracted with Beijing to build Hambantota and was forced to sell it to a Chinese company for 99 years.

For Indian channel CNN-News18, Yuan Wang 5 is a dual-use spy ship, used for space and satellite tracking, and exclusively for intercontinental ballistic missile launches.

The Indian government expressed concern that the ship might spy on its activities and complained to Colombo about it.

New Delhi’s External Affairs Minister warned that “(it) will take all necessary steps to protect India’s security and economic interests, whatever the impact”.