Chinese ‘research vessel’ heads towards Maldives: Why New Delhi is concerned
NEW DELHI: In yet another example of Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu’s pro-China stance, the island nation is getting ready to host a Chinese research vessel in its territorial waters early next month.
The Chinese vessel is en-route to Male, open source intelligence researcher Damien Symon wrote on social media platform X, saying Xiang Yang Hong 03 “is entering the Indian Ocean Region, displaying its destination as Male, the vessel is expected to run an ocean survey operation in the Indian Ocean Region raising concern in #India”.
An Indian military official confirmed Symon’s finding and said they are monitoring its movement, said Reuters.
Dubious mission
New Delhi has been vocal about its concerns over Chinese research vessels entering the Indian Ocean. These vessels are not military ships, officially, but India and others, including the US, worry about the military use of their research.
Earlier this month, state-affiliated Chinese media warned against calling its maritime research in the Indian Ocean Region a threat, after an American think tank said China’s navy could “leverage the insights gained from these missions” for deployment of naval forces.
Vietnam and Indonesia have previously claimed that similar Chinese research vessels had entered their economic zone.
Concern for New Delhi
Sri Lanka, which has hosted several such ships, recently announced a one-year moratorium on the entry of all foreign research vessels due to India’s concerns.
The Maldives, however, has decided to ignore New Delhi’s warnings and will be allowing entry to Chinese vessel Xiang Yang Hong 3 into the waters of the south Indian Ocean in early February.
Xiang Yang Hong 3 was earlier scheduled to start conducting “deep water exploration” in Sri Lankan waters.
The decision to grant entry to the Chinese vessel by the Maldives comes after the Muizzu government refused to renew a hydrography agreement with New Delhi citing national security concerns and the safeguarding of sensitive information.
The hydrographic survey agreement was signed on June 8, 2019, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Maldives.
Under the agreement, India was allowed to conduct a comprehensive study of the island nation’s territorial waters, which includes reefs, lagoons, coastlines, ocean currents, and tide levels.
Muizzu, who came to power in November 2023 due to his ‘India Out’ campaign, has also asked New Delhi to remove all its 88 military personnel from the island nation by March.
(With inputs from agencies)
