{"id":127510,"date":"2022-07-31T15:21:48","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T22:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=127510"},"modified":"2022-07-31T15:21:48","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T22:21:48","slug":"sri-lanka-clarifies-on-chinese-research-vessel-to-dock-at-hambantota-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/07\/31\/sri-lanka-clarifies-on-chinese-research-vessel-to-dock-at-hambantota-port\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka clarifies on Chinese research vessel to dock at Hambantota Port"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy Adaderana<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka has allowed a Chinese research vessel to dock at the Hambantota port next month, the island nation\u2019s Army spokesman said on Sunday, days after India said it carefully monitors any development having a bearing on its security and economic interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The southern deep-sea port of Hambantota is considered strategically important for its location. The port, located in the hometown of the Rajapaksa family, has been developed largely with Chinese loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u0da0\u0dd3\u0db1 \u0db1\u0dd0\u0dc0\u0dda \u0d9c\u0dd0\u0da7\u0dbd\u0dd4\u0dc0 \u0d94\u0da9\u0dd4 \u0daf\u0dd4\u0dc0\u0dba\u0dd2\u0daf?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jrYdJLLHe5k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Asked for his comment on reports about the possible docking of the Chinese spacecraft tracking ship \u2018Yuan Wang 5\u2019 at the Hambantota port, the Sri Lankan Army spokesman Colonel Nalin Herath said Sri Lanka routinely gives clearance to enter commercial and military ships from many countries to go past and also enter Sri Lankan waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have given permission and clearance to the Chinese vessel in that context,\u2019\u2019 Herath told PTI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yuan Wang 5 is expected to dock in Sri Lanka\u2019s Hambantota port from August 11-17 for \u2018replenishment\u2019 and will conduct satellite control and research tracking in the north western part of the Indian Ocean region through August and September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India has said it carefully monitors any development having a bearing on its security and economic interests. \u2018\u2018We are aware of reports of a proposed visit by this vessel to Hambantota in August,\u2019\u2019 India\u2019s External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in New Delhi when asked about the reports of a proposed visit by a Chinese vessel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018\u2018 The government carefully monitors any development having a bearing on India\u2019s security and economic interests and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them,\u2019\u2019 he said on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Sri Lanka\u2019s main Tamil minority party TNA on Sunday said China\u2019s military presence in the Indian Ocean would give India a legitimate defence concern and that Colombo should not accentuate that by providing space for Chinese military presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chinese spacecraft tracking ship Yuan Wang 5 entering the Hambantota Harbour on August 11 has again given rise to tensions in the region. We do not take sides with regard to power struggles between other countries,\u2019\u2019 the TNA said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BRISL (Belt &amp; Road Initiative Sri Lanka), a Colombo-based organisation studying China\u2019s ambitious connectivity project, said \u2018\u2018the visit of Yuan Wang-5 to Hambantota port will be an excellent opportunity for Sri Lanka and the regional developing nations to learn and develop their own space programmes.\u2019\u2019 India has traditionally taken a stern view of Chinese military vessels in the Indian ocean and has protested such visits with Sri Lanka in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India\u2019s concerns have been focused on Hambantota port in particular. In 2017, Colombo leased the southern port to China Merchant Port Holdings, after Sri Lanka was unable to keep its loan repayment commitments, fanning fears over potential use of the port for military purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposed visit by the vessel comes when Sri Lanka is grappling with a severe economic crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India has been at the forefront of extending economic assistance to Sri Lanka as it is grappling with the worst economic crisis since 1948.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the new Sri Lankan president looks at pulling the country out of its economic crisis, India last week said that it will continue to assist the island nation and support its people in their quest for stability and prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: PTI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>&#8211;Agencies<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka has allowed a Chinese research vessel to dock at the Hambantota port next month, the island nation\u2019s Army spokesman said on Sunday, days after India said it carefully monitors any development having a bearing on its security and economic interests. The southern deep-sea port of Hambantota is considered strategically important for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127510\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}