India, US worries over Yuan Wang’s landing in SL

The landing of the Chinese scientific research ship, Yuan Wang 5, at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port on August 16 has worried India and US both of claim the vessel was in the Indian vicinity for collecting sensitive data of Indian defence installations in the Indo-Pacific. India called it “Chinese intruding at its backyard” while western media and US experts claim the ship was equipped with ballistic missile and satellite tracking. China built the Hambantota Port and got its lease for 99 years for docking its ships whenever needed. The Port is situated along the key shipping route between the Malacca Straits and the Suez Canal, which links Asia and Europe. Data indicates that 36,000 ships, including 4,500 oil tankers, pass through this strategically important sea route.

When Yuan Wang 5 landed at Hambantota Port on August 16, it was hoisting a massive banner that read: “Hello Sri Lanka, Long Live Sri Lanka-China Friendship.”

Sri Lankan Navy said Yuan Wang 5 is a scientific research ship with no military functions. Indian media on the other hand said Sri Lanka allowed Chinese sensitive ship into the Indian waters because Sri Lanka is trying to get Chinese aid worth $4 billion to mitigate its financial crisis. The US Department of Defence insisted the ship was under the command of China’s military — a claim rejected by Sri Lanka. Independent experts believe the ship could be used to survey the Indian ocean which would help the Chinese in planning submarine operations in the region.

This is not the first time the US and India have strongly reacted to China’s presence in the Indo-Pacific. Both had been criticising CPEC because it connects China with Gwadar Port which is manned by the Chinese. China’s presence at the ports of Gwadar, Djibouti and Hambantota is seen as a threat to US plans to encircle the Chinese trade route through different strategic partnerships with Japan, Australia, India and other countries in Far East. For mitigating these US designs, China came up with a practical move of linking Chinese land with the Indo-Pacific through a land route that is almost operational and links Gwadar Port to China by avoiding any possible US attempt to stop Chinese trade. Gwadar is a purely deep-sea water business project and has nothing to do with any defence purposes. Same is the case with the Djibouti Port where China is securing its communication cables in the sea and ships from attacks and piracy. Moreover, Pakistan is also a partner in the Chinese marine transportation business and wishes to connect Gwadar and Karachi ports to Djibouti and Kenya before being extended to Egypt and South Africa. Independent experts believe the Chinese presence at the ports in Djibouti, Hambantota and Gwadar consolidates the Chinese model of freeway trade in the Indo-Pacific if the US ever tries to block Chinese transport routes at the narrow Malacca Strait. Linked by land with Gwadar Port not only minimises the journey of the trade route for China to reach the Indo-Pacific but also ensures that it has more than one option to continue its trade to Africa and Europe if NATO allies meddle with water around China.

While the US and India are showing their presence and power through initiatives like Quad, AUKUS and the recently announced Indo-Pacific Framework, they are not ready to accept the presence of a Chinese scientific ship. The US and India claim that Yuan Wang 5 came to monitor satellite activity and missile test firing in the region with a focus on India, US and Australia. This brings me to a question: why did the presence of a Chinese ship only for seven days make NATO members and NATO-friendly India so worried if they are not doing anything militarily in this region? Their response looks out of proportion and raises several more questions. Are they doing something fishy in Indo-Pacific waters? if not, then they should not be worried.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2022.

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