Sri Lanka clears arrival of Chinese vessel

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated15/08/2022

The Sri Lankan government has allowed the Chinese research ship, Yuan Wang 5, to dock at the southern port of Hambantota.

The Chinese ship - Yuan Wang 5 - was en route from the Chinese port of Jiangyin to the Lankan port of Hambantota.
Clearances for the ship to berth at Hambantota port were given by Lanka, a day before Gotabaya Rajapaksa was expected to resign from President post.
Upon learning that the government in Colombo had given clearances for the Chinese military vessel to berth at Hambantota, India expressed its concern.
As a result, the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry asked China to defer the arrival of its military ship until further consultations.

Sri Lanka has cleared the arrival of the Chinese space and satellite tracking vessel Yuan Wang 5 at the southern Hambantota port.
Sri Lanka had cleared the scheduled visit of the Chinese ship with conditions which include:
that the visiting Chinese vessel’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) be kept switched on within the EEZ of Sri Lanka; and
that no scientific research be conducted in Sri Lankan waters.
India once again raised its reservation
While rejecting inferences that Sri Lanka was pressured earlier, India said that it is monitoring the situation closely.
Earlier, China asked India to not disturb normal exchanges between Sri Lanka and China.
It termed India’s security concerns over the vessel visit senseless.

In the meantime, the Indian Air force has gifted a Dornier 228 Maritime Patrol Aircraft to the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF).
The aircraft is expected to be handed over in a formal ceremony on August 15.
In March 2022, Sri Lanka signed two maritime pacts with India, through which Sri Lanka was to receive a Floating Dock Facility and a Dornier reconnaissance aircraft at no cost.