In the latest episode of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) induced warfare, India has been accused by the PRC (People’s Republic of China) of pressurising Sri Lanka to ban Chinese research vessels from entering its ports. The irksome reaction by the CCP was received soon after Sri Lanka informed India that it will not allow any Chinese research vessel to dock at Sri Lankan ports or operate within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for a period of one year. The announcement came in just as Chinese scientific research vessel, Xiang Yang Hong 3, was planning to carry out deep water exploration in the southern Indian Ocean from January 5, 2024.
The PRC was earlier permitted by Sri Lanka to operate its research ships, hydrographic vessels and ballistic missiles trackers to reach and survey the Indian Ocean Region, with at least 25 such ships having been operated in 2023 alone. However, their activity kept increasing, close to the eastern and western coastlines of India. Keeping in mind the CCP’s espionage history, India always remained vigilant of such movements. The CCP’s accusation of India putting pressure on Sri Lanka to ban their research ships is totally uncalled for as Sri Lanka, being a democratic republic nation, is independent to make decisions as to who should be given access to such strategic areas.
Moreover, it is highly unlikely for the Sri Lankan government to forget what the CCP did to them – a full blown economic crisis caused by the CCP’s ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’. PRC took advantage of Sri Lanka’s increasing economic burden in 2022 and became the second largest lender to Sri Lanka with the ultimate goal of holding its economy hostage by increasing interest rates and occupying strategic natural resources in lieu of unpaid debt. The port sites of Hambantota and Colombo have also been leased to the PRC for a hundred years.
PRC always had expansionist goals along the Indian Ocean region and it hides under the garb of sending “scientific research vessels” in order to further its aims of surveillance and setting military bases at foreign ports.
Red Lantern Analytica welcomes the positive move by Sri Lanka authorities to ban these CCP fuelled ‘spy ships’ from surveying the Indian Ocean and looks forward to the global leaders devising plans of collaboration to counter the increasing assertiveness of the PRC.
