The Chinese Navy is stepping up its operations in the Indian Ocean. A mini-fleet of three warships has moored in Colombo on an official visit, and Chinese research vessels have been busy in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.
Three Chinese survey ships have been cruising the waters surrounding the subcontinent all of August, with a noticeable trend of heightened activity during times when India is carrying out space or military experiments.
The increased Chinese presence in Indian waters coincides with accusations that China and the Philippines intentionally crashed each other’s coast guard vessels over the weekend close to Sabina Shoal. Beijing and Manila are at odds over land in the South China Sea, and the disputed atoll is the latest focus of contention.
Throughout July and the first part of August, the Chinese survey ship Xiang Yong Hong 03 was in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal for several weeks. It was once situated 120 nautical miles from the location where India had declared it will hold a sub-surface firing between July 27 and August 10. It was also 380 nautical miles from the south state of Chennai, India.
Around the same time, there were two other Chinese survey ships cruising the Indian Ocean. One was the Yuan Wang 7, a vessel for tracking missiles and satellites. The other was the Zhong Shan Da Yue, which was dubbed China’s largest oceanographic research and training vessel when it was put into service in 2020. The Zhong Shan Da Yue has been called “a large mobile laboratory at sea” and contains a landing deck for helicopters and drones.
Just three days before India issued a warning regarding a 415 km no-fly zone from Balasore in Odisha, India where India maintains an integrated missile test range, the Yuan Wang 07 also visited the Indian Ocean region earlier in June.
