Chinese Shin Yan 6—which India claims it to be a spy vessel—arrived on the Port of Colombo on Wednesday (Oct 25). A spokesperson from the Sri Lanka international ministry advised AFP information company that the vessel had been authorised to dock within the metropolis, the place a Chinese state-owned firm operates a deep-sea container terminal.

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“Clearance was given for the vessel to come to Colombo for replenishment,” the spokesman was quoted as saying by AFP.

The 90-metre (300-foot) vessel was seen coming into the port of Colombo on Wednesday night.

Vessel for analysis functions 

The Chinese name the Shi Yan 6 a “scientific research vessel” with a crew of 60 to conduct oceanography, geology and marine ecology checks.

According to Chinese officers, their major goal is to hold out an in depth survey encompassing each the unique financial zone (EEZ) of the island nation and the area of the southern Indian Ocean.

However, India believes that the analysis ship is definitely a spy vessel in disguise meant to listen in on Indian navy property based mostly within the southern area bordering Sri Lanka and Andaman and Nicobar islands, which serves as the bottom for the Indian Air Force and the Navy.

Earlier, the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA)—the apex institute charged with accountability for finishing up analysis—stated that the China’s Shi Yan 6 shall be reaching Sri Lanka as per an settlement reached with the University of Ruhuna.

India’s issues 

Later, the University of Ruhuna introduced that it has determined to step away from the analysis program that was to happen with the Chinese scientific analysis vessel.

The University of Ruhuna introduced that one of many two college lecturers who represented the college in agreeing to conduct joint analysis with the Shi Yan 6 had migrated abroad, and the opposite lecturer had stepped away from the nation’s college system fully.

Also learn | US echoes India’s security concerns over China’s Shi Yan 6’s port call to Sri Lanka: Report

It comes a yr after India expressed issues over an analogous port name by Chinese analysis vessel Yuan Wang 5, which specialises in spacecraft monitoring. But New Delhi believed it to be a spy ship.

Also learn | Presence of Chinese ‘research’ ship Shi Yan 6 in Colombo is problematic for India. Here’s why

It docked in Hambantota, a port in Sri Lanka’s south beneath a 99-year lease to the Chinese firm that constructed it after Colombo was unable to service a $1.4 billion mortgage taken for the undertaking.

(With inputs from businesses)