 "Why Sri Lanka is letting foreign 'research' ships to dock in island days after banning China")
After banning Chinese ships from docking in Sri Lankan ports for a year, Colombo says that it will allow foreign offshore ‘research ships’ to drop their anchors for replenishment.
“The ban on foreign ships is for research purposes, not on replenishment,” the Economy Next portal quoted Niluka Kadurugamuwa, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, as saying.
He said that recently a German research ship harboured in the country for replenishment following Sri Lanka’s authorisation.
The move drew criticism from China who highlighted Colombo’s hypocrisy after the country turned down Beijing’s request to dock a research vessel.
Sri Lanka is in the process of introducing an SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for handling foreign research vessels.
Why did Colombo ban Chinese vessels from its ports?
In January, Sri Lanka announced that the country would bar Chinese vessels from entering its waters for one year.
The move came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked President Ranil Wickremesinghe to respect India’s security concerns during their meeting in July 2023.
The Sri Lankan government notified the one-year-long moratorium after India and US flagged concerns over Colombo entertaining Chinese vessels in its territories.
Chinese ships in Sri Lanka
Two Chinese spy ships were allowed to dock in Sri Lanka ports within 14 months through November 2023, with one called for replenishment and the other for research.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsChinese research ship Shi Yan 6 arrived in Sri Lanka in October 2023 and docked at Colombo port, for what Beijing cited as geophysical scientific research in collaboration with the island nation’s National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).
In August 2022, Chinese navy vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked at Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka for replenishment.
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