Senior officials of the Ministry of Defence said that they had been tracking the Chinese ship, Yuan Wang 6, that had entered the waters of the Indian Ocean. The move comes just ahead of India's planned missile test later in the month off the coast of Odisha.
Earlier, a similar incident took place when a Chinese ship had docked in the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota. Despite security concerns raised by India, the Chinese research vessel Yuan Wang 5 reached Sri Lanka's Hambantota Port on August 16, Daily Mirror had reported. The ship was welcomed by Sri Lankan port officials and Chinese officials from the ship company. The ship had been slated to arrive on August 11, but Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry asked to postpone the docking until further consultations took place.
The ministry said that the ship was given permission to dock in Hambantota until August 22. It said the two sides had agreed the ship would keep its identification systems on and would not carry out any research activities while in Sri Lanka waters.
ALSO READ | Sri Lanka allows Chinese ship, that India expressed 'concerns' over, to dock at island
ALSO READ | Chinese research ship Yuan Wang 5 arrives in Sri Lanka amid India's security concerns
