China’s dual-use surveillance ship in Sri Lankan port underscores distrust of Beijing’s tech advances
- The docking of the vessel came as India conducted trials of several new indigenously developed missiles
- China’s lack of overseas military bases means it prefers dual-use assets that afford low profile defence and intelligence-related activities: analyst
The vessel left China on July 12 to carry out routine tracking missions to support the launch of Wentian, a core component of China’s space station, according to China’s state media Science and Technology Daily.
After the successful launch of Wentian on July 24, the vessel planned to dock at Hambantota on August 11, a port call that was previously deferred because of concerns raised, particularly by India.
“The Yuan Wang 5 is primarily a satellite monitoring vessel but it is also likely able to gather telemetry data from missile launches … India could have been worried that the Chinese ship would be able to gather data from such tests,” said Ridzwan Rahmat, principal defence analyst at Janes.
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Chinese research ship docks at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port amid heightened regional tensions
The docking arrangement might have appeared to be a secret because the Sri Lankan government had said in late July – as it battled a major domestic crisis – it would not allow such a visit.