Shruti Sneha, Pune
Shi Yan 6 ship has sailed into the Indian Ocean and is currently positioned at 90 East Ridge in the middle of the ocean, headed towards Sri Lanka, even as the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration is giving conflicting signals regarding authorization for the Chinese research vessel to land at the Colombo port in October. Since 2019, up to 48 Chinese scientific research vessels have been stationed in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), mostly in the Bay of Bengal and its surrounding regions, as well as the Arabian Sea and its direction towards the Persian Gulf.
According to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, Indian security concerns are of great significance to the Island nation and no permissions had been given to the Chinese warship. He clarified his remarks, however, by stating that conversations were ongoing and that there would be no issues if the vessel followed Sri Lanka’s regular operating protocols.
Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe was more direct in an interview with an American think tank earlier this year. He asserted that there are no Chinese espionage ships in Sri Lanka and that docking authorisation
is easy to obtain if the ship complies with local SOPs. In October and November 2023, the Chinese boat Shi Yan 6 will perform cooperative military scientific research in Sri Lanka’s EEZ and elsewhere.
India, for its part, is aware that the choice to let the Shi Yan 6 dock in Colombo would be made either following or during President Wickremesinghe’s trip to Beijing to commemorate the Belt and Road Initiative’s (10th) anniversary on October 17 and 18. Another issue is that during the Rajapaksa administration when Wickremesinghe served as a cabinet minister and even as prime minister, white elephant infrastructure projects funded by the Chinese EXIM bank contributed to Sri Lanka’s economic catastrophe. Following Sri Lanka’s inability to repay loans, Wickremesinghe granted China a 99-year lease on the Hambantota seaport.
The Chinese ship Shi Yan 6 left its homeport of Guangzhou on September 10, crossed the Malacca Strait into the Indian Ocean on September 23, and arrived in Singapore on September 14. While China has Colombo under its influence with mounting debt and intelligence penetration inside the island nation, India has made it clear that Sri Lanka must address its security and strategic concerns. Sri Lanka may decide to delay granting the so-called Research Vessel permission to dock in Colombo, hoping that the Indian Ocean’s instability in November will resolve the situation.