Apprehensions in India as Chinese Survey Ship Heads to Maldives

Chinese Survey Ship Heads:- A Chinese research ship due to dock in the Maldives has raised apprehensions in India, where concerns have been growing about the potential military use of the data collected by such vessels.

The Maldives foreign ministry said last week that it has given permission to the ship, Xiang Yang Hong 3, following a request by China to “make a port call, for rotation of personnel and replenishment.” It said the ship will not be conducting any research in Maldivian waters.

The announcement comes at a time when diplomatic tensions have spiked between India and the Maldives following the election of President Mohamed Muizzu, who is seen as pro-China.

The Maldives gave clearance to the ship weeks after India’s other small neighbor in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka placed a one-year moratorium on foreign research ships entering its waters.

The suspension was put in place apparently due to objections raised by India after at least two Chinese research and surveillance ships docked in the island nation in the last year and a half. Last year, the research ship Shi Yan 6, conducted a maritime survey in Sri Lankan waters.

Analysts say New Delhi’s concerns about Chinese research ships such as the one due to dock in the Maldives in the coming days arise from fears that the data collected could be used to deploy Chinese submarines in the region.

“Our suspicion is that this vessel, although it is an oceanographic research vessel, is gathering information that could be used by China to expand its undersea military operations and improve its anti-submarine warfare capabilities, as it studies the Indian Ocean environment, the seabed, temperature profile, eddies, currents, etc. That means China will have an edge militarily in the Indian Ocean in times to come,” Abhijit Singh, Head of Maritime Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi told VOA.

Amid rising geopolitical tensions, the Indian Ocean has become a hugely strategic waterway for India and China, the Asian giants whose rivalries have deepened following a four-year long military standoff along their Himalayan borders.

“Beijing has profound interest in the Indian Ocean because vital sea-lanes of communication pass through here carrying energy, oil, trade etc. What they are doing is reconnoitering the high seas, studying the hydrographic or hydrological conditions because their submarines will operate here one day,” India’s retired navy chief Arun Prakash told VOA. “China is preparing the ground for a major maritime deployment in the years to come So it is of concern to India.”

The Maldives and Sri Lanka are placed strategically along key shipping routes. Although the Maldives foreign ministry said that the Chinese ship, Xiang Yang Hong 3 would not be conducting research, analysts said that was unlikely to reassure New Delhi.

“Once the vessel is there, it is very hard for Maldives to make sure that it is not doing the work it intends to do,” according to Singh.

A report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies released earlier this month said that Chinese surveys in the Indian Ocean have “clear military value - especially to submarine operations.”

According to the report, China, whose surveying operations had been concentrated along its periphery in the South China Sea and Western Pacific Ocean, has also set its sights on the Indian Ocean.

"While scientific and commercial benefits may accrue from Chinese oceanographic research, these activities may also prove crucial for the PLA [People's Liberation Army] in expanding its operational reach and capabilities in the Indian Ocean," the report said.

"This expansion poses a significant challenge to key regional players like India, as well as to the United States and its allies."

Following the report’s release, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, said that China's marine scientific research fully complied with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"We hope that the relevant parties will take an objective view of China's marine scientific research activities and refrain from speculating through colored glasses," Mao said on January 11.

In the Maldives, permission to the Chinese vessel was granted weeks after both sides committed to stronger ties during a visit this month by the Maldivian president, Muizzu, to Beijing.

“The Chinese are going to leverage these growing ties with Maldives by conducting surveys in these waters,” said Singh.

Indian Ocean countries such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives have witnessed a geopolitical tug of war between India and China for a strategic presence over the past two decades.

"The Maldives has always been a welcoming destination for vessels of friendly countries, and continues to host both civilian and military vessels making port calls for peaceful purposes," the Maldivian foreign ministry said last week, referring to the Xiang Yang Hong 3 visit.

“The deployment of such research ships in the Indian Ocean is going to increase, it is not going to get any less in the years to come,” said Prakash. VOA/SP