But the ship’s arrival appears to have exacerbated tensions between New Delhi and Beijing, which have spent billions of dollars on development and trade with Sri Lanka, an island of 22 million people located on a key trade route.
The Yuan Wang 5 had initially sought permission to dock at the port last week, but the visit was delayed after concerns were raised about the ship’s presence, although India denied putting any pressure on Colombo.
China says the ship is being used for scientific research, but the US Defense Department says the ship is under the command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and is capable of tracking satellites and missile launches.
On Saturday, Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said the government had engaged in “extensive” consultations with “all parties concerned” with “a view to resolving the matter in a spirit of friendship, mutual trust and constructive dialogue”.
He said the ship had been given permission to dock on the condition that no scientific research would be conducted in Sri Lankan waters.
What is a ship?
The ship’s arrival at the port of Hambadota has always been controversial – China leased the port from Sri Lanka in 2017 for 99 years after Colombo failed to pay debts related to the construction of the facility. At the time, the deal raised concerns that it would give China access to a key shipping lane, placing it within India’s traditional sphere of influence. And the presence of a ship packed with advanced technology has made Sri Lanka’s neighbors nervous. According to a US Department of Defense report published last year, the vessel is under the command of the PLA’s Strategic Support Force (SSF), “a theater command-level organization established to bring together the PLA’s strategic space, cyber, electronic, information, communications, and psychological warfare missions and capabilities’. “The SSF also operates Yuan Wang space support ships that monitor satellite and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches,” the US report said. Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said New Delhi’s concern about the ship’s presence in Sri Lanka likely stemmed from its surveillance capabilities. “Espionage is not its primary mission…its primary mission is satellite tracking and monitoring of DPRK missile launches, telemetry and satellite status…but this same capability can and often is used to monitor satellite operations, down links and missiles of other countries telemetry,” he said. China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the ship was conducting scientific research “in accordance with international law”. “It does not affect the security and economic interests of any country and should not be interfered with by third parties,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
India-China tensions
The Yuan Wang 5 has become a symbol of rising tensions between India and China — both of which have financially supported Colombo as it experiences its worst economic crisis in decades. India has provided critical aid to Sri Lanka as it suffers from food, fuel and medicine shortages, lending $4 billion in lines of credit. China is also a major creditor of Sri Lanka and is crucial to Sri Lanka’s efforts to restructure its debt to secure a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. Relations between India and China have long been strained, although in recent years a protracted military standoff along their shared Himalayan border has claimed dozens of lives. Meanwhile, India has drawn closer to the United States in an effort to balance China’s increasingly assertive stance in the Indo-Pacific. In October, Washington and New Delhi will hold a joint military exercise less than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the disputed India-China border – further strengthening ties between the two nuclear-armed powers. In late July, India’s foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi expressed concern over the Chinese ship’s visit to Sri Lanka, telling reporters that “the government is closely monitoring any development related to India’s security and economic interests and takes all the necessary measures to preserve them”. On August 5, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Chinese Embassy in Colombo postponing the arrival of Yuan Wang 5 “until further consultations” on the matter. Three days later, without naming India, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang said the “brutal interference” in Sri Lanka’s foreign relations was “an act of exploiting someone when they are in danger, which is against the basic rules of international relationships. .” India later rejected claims that its concerns were the cause of the delay in the ship’s docking, with Bagchi telling reporters last week, “Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and makes its own independent decisions.” On Monday, India demonstrated the strength of its commitment to Sri Lanka by gifting the island nation with a reconnaissance aircraft in a ceremony attended by Sri Lanka’s President. The gift of an aircraft “highlights the cooperation” between the maritime neighbors, India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
China’s influence in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka presents the ideal transshipment hub for Chinese imports and exports — and remains “very strategic for India,” said Sushant Singh, senior fellow at the New Delhi Center for Policy Research. Sri Lanka was “caught between a rock and a hard place”, he said, referring to India and China in no particular order. “The Chinese had put pressure on them. The Indians had put pressure on them. And they can’t afford to lose any aid. All countries that are small and economically weak will face these challenges if they’re in a tough neighborhood.” China has invested in Sri Lanka for decades, when much of the international community stayed away. As many Western countries blocked funding to Sri Lanka over alleged human rights abuses during a decades-long civil war that ended in 2009, China provided financial aid to the former Rajapaksa government, said Ganeshan Wignaraja, a senior researcher at the British think tank. ODI Global. “Sri Lanka then thought that it could use China as a vehicle for economic development under infrastructure,” he said. Between 2005 and 2017, China spent nearly $15 billion in Sri Lanka, but as the island nation’s economic fortunes weakened, it struggled to repay its debt and the countries agreed to the long-term port deal. Wignaraja said that by sending the Yuan Wang 5 to Hambantota port, he was testing the limits of this arrangement. “China was testing the terms of the lease agreement by sending a vessel that has satellites and has a highly advanced capability,” Wignaraja said. CNN’s Brad Lenton contributed reporting.
