Virtually a month after Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his nation will probably be sensitive to security and strategic concerns of India, a Chinese marine analysis vessel, Shi Yan 6, is anticipated to dock at Colombo and Hambantota deep sea ports late October and keep until November 2023. As of now, Sri Lanka authorities continues to be to provide clearance to the maritime analysis vessel.

Already PLA warship Hai Yang 24 Hao with a crew of 138 with Commander Jin Xin as captain is at the moment docked at Colombo port for what has been described as a proper port name.

The warship is anticipated to sail out of Colombo as we speak with Sri Lankan papers quoting their very own international ministry as saying that India was sanguine with formal port calls by PLA vessels however not with survey-research vessels.

According to stories from Colombo, the 3999 ton Shi Yan 6, based mostly in Guangzhou, is at the moment in South China Sea and transferring in direction of the south. It is learnt that scientists of Sri Lanka’s National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency aka NARA will embark on Shi Yan 6 to conduct survey of the unique financial zone (EEZ) of the island nation and within the south Indian Ocean.

The vessel will probably be docking at each Colombo and Hambantota ports and finishing up surveys for almost a month with one a part of survey being with out Sri Lankan Scientists.

While South Block is tight-lipped concerning the improvement, it’s learnt that India has taken up the problem on the highest diplomatic ranges and it’s now as much as Wickremesinghe authorities to deal with Indian issues.

Last August, Chinese ballistic missile tracker Yuan Wang 5 docked at Hambantota port, leased to Beijing for 99 years when Wickremesinghe was the Prime Minister underneath Rajapaksa regime, regardless of India elevating critical issues concerning the survey ship.

With the PLA Navy increasing quickly and having open international ambitions, the bigger query is how lengthy will the Modi authorities enable international locations within the Indian sub-continent stay impervious to India’s strategic pursuits. The query is especially pertinent to these international locations with whom India has stood up for in thick and skinny—from humanitarian catastrophe, vaccine provide to financial assist.

Even although China provided high interest aid for white elephant projects throughout the previous Beijing pleasant Rajapaksa regime, Sri Lanka internet hosting Chinese analysis vessels reveals that it’s relatively apathetic or detached to New Delhi’s issues. It is now an open secret that China is mapping the Indo-Pacific for future nuclear submarine operations to counter the QUAD and different ASEAN powers.

Over the years, Chinese analysis vessels are coming into the Indian Ocean via Ombi-Wetar straits in Indonesia and continuing in direction of the South Indian Ocean through the 90 diploma ridge. The sea route through Malacca, Sunda and Lombok straits is just not viable for submarines as they should floor, thus giving freely their location. This is just not the case if the sub-surface combatant goes via Ombi-Wetar straits.

The mapping of ocean ground, salinity content material and sub-surface temperatures within the Indian Ocean is a part of the bigger strategic train to test the efficiency and accuracy of submarine fired missiles in equatorial waters. Due to the distinction between the floor and sub-surface temperatures, a phenomenon known as lateral inversion happens in equatorial waters, making it almost not possible to detect assault submarines in deep waters and the one choice out there is to detect nuclear reactor noise.

While the Indian Navy’s diesel assault submarines pose a critical problem to any Chinese vessel within the Indian Ocean as not like the nuclear submarine, the diesel engine might be shut down and make it not possible for the enemy to detect the Indian sub-surface vessel.

However, the Indian Navy is aware of that it is just a matter of time when PLA vessels will begin lengthy vary patrols within the south Indian Ocean utilizing service strike pressure. The survey of south Indian Ocean waters can be to chart new sea routes away from Indian dominance and sooner entry to Beijing’s consumer states on Africa’s jap and western seaboard.