Shipping data from Refinitiv Eikon showed the research and exploration vessel Yuan Wang 5 was en route to the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota and was expected to arrive on August 11. “The government is closely monitoring any developments related to India’s security and economic interests and is taking all necessary steps to safeguard them,” India’s foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said at a weekly media briefing. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “I think that should be a clear message.” He did not say what steps India is taking and to whom the message is directed. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sri Lankan officials could not immediately be reached for comment. A Sri Lankan government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Indian diplomats in Colombo lodged a verbal protest with Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry on Monday.
“SPACE MONITORING”
A Sri Lankan consultancy, Belt & Road Initiative Sri Lanka, says on its website that Yuan Wang 5 will be in Hambantota for a week. “The vessel will conduct space surveillance, satellite control and survey monitoring in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean region through August and September,” it said, without citing a source. Sri Lanka officially handed over commercial operations at its main southern port to a Chinese company in 2017 on a 99-year lease after struggling to repay its debt. The port is close to the main shipping route from Asia to Europe. US and Indian officials worry the $1.5 billion port could become a Chinese military base. A Sri Lankan official told Reuters on Monday that Beijing was welcome to put more money into massive Chinese-backed projects in Hambantota and Colombo. read more China is one of Sri Lanka’s biggest lenders and has also financed airports, roads and railways, upsetting India. As Sri Lanka now faces its worst economic crisis in seven decades, India has provided nearly $4 billion in support this year alone. Responding to a tweet about the proposed visit to Hambantota, Indian security analyst Nitin A. Gokhale cited Sri Lanka’s decision to allow a Chinese submarine and warship to dock in Colombo in 2014, a move that angered India at the time. time. “Redux 2014?” Gokhale tweeted. “Harmless port call or deliberate challenge?” India’s concerns about Chinese influence in Sri Lanka come as US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping held their fifth call as leaders on Thursday amid tensions over a possible visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in Taiwan. read more Also on Thursday, Taiwan’s military fired flares to warn a drone that had “looked” at a strategically fortified island off the Chinese coast possibly probing its defenses, Taiwan’s defense ministry said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reported by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi. Additional reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe in Colombo, Yew Lun Tian in Beijing and Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai. Edited by Francis Carey and Gareth Jones Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
