Chinese research ship heading to Sri Lanka port raises eyebrows, India monitoring situation

A Chinese research and survey ship is expected to reach the China-run Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka on August 11, reports NDTV. India is said to be monitoring the situation closely. 

The report quoted Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry media spokesman Colonel Nalin Herath saying that Colombo is aware of India’s concern as the ship is capable of monitoring military installations, but it is a routine exercise. 

“Naval ships from India, China Russia, Japan and Malaysia from time to time have requested, and so we have granted permission to China. Only when there is a nuclear-capable ship coming our way we can deny access. This is not a nuclear-capable kind of ship,” Herath was quoted by NDTV as saying. 

China has request Sri Lanka for its permission to dock Yuan Wang 5 ship at Hambantota Port, which the latter has granted. Herath said China informed Sri Lanka they are sending the ship for surveillance and navigation in the Indian Ocean.

In 2014, a similar situation had unfolded when two Chinese submarines docked at Hambantota Port, leading to a tense situation. Back then, Beijing had not even informed Lanka, let alone India, that they had sent a submarine. 

India has made it clear it will closely monitor "any bearing on India's security and economic interests and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them".

Other than Beijing’s continued build-up in the Indian Ocean waters, India’s has remained suspicious of its growing influence on Sri Lanka, which which owes large amounts of money to Beijing for infrastructure projects, including the USD 1.4-billion Hambantota Port.

China’s unproductive projects in Sri Lanka, including the Hambantota Port, which Beijing took over on lease as a debt swap, had come under sharp criticism. 

China, which accounts for 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s debt, is reported to have resisted offering a debt cut, despite the latter facing an unprecedented economic crisis which led to severe shortages of fuel, cooking gas and medicines, anti-government protests and the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last month.