Sri Lanka has decided to impose a
one-year moratorium starting next month on allowing foreign vessels to conduct
research in the island nation’s territorial waters, said Foreign Minister Ali
Sabry, amid frequent docking requests from Chinese surveillance ships.
“That is for us to do some capacity
development so that we can participate in such research activities as equal
partners,” he said.
The Lankan Government has communicated
the decision to relevant countries, Sabry told the Daily Mirror newspaper.
The decision has been taken in the wake
of China seeking permission to berth yet another research vessel in Sri Lanka’s
waters in January, next year, the report said.
China despatches its
research/surveillance vessels to Sri Lanka regularly. In August this year, the
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy warship HAI YANG 24 HAO arrived in the
country on a two-day visit.
Chinese Survey and Research Vessel ‘Shi
Yan 6’ docked at Colombo port in October despite India’s objection and carried
out research activities along with the National Aquatic Resources Research and
Development Agency (NARA) on the water column of the Indian Ocean.
In August last year, a port call by the
Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship, ‘Yuan Wang 5’, which
arrived in the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota elicited strong reactions from
India.
There were apprehensions in New Delhi
about the possibility of the vessel’s hi-tech tracking systems attempting to
snoop on Indian defence installations while on its way to the Sri Lankan port.
However, after a considerable delay, Sri
Lanka allowed the ship to dock at the strategic southern port of Hambantota,
being built by a Chinese company.
Sri Lanka is also facing elections next
year and seeking to act without antagonising any country in its dealings with
matters of geopolitical significance, the newspaper said on Tuesday.
The country has evolved the Standard
Operating Procedure (SOP) for foreign military vessels and aircraft arriving in
the country, Sabry said.
The foreign minister said the guidelines
set under the SOP had been sent to all the countries that deployed their
vessels to Sri Lankan waters during the last 10 years.
PTI
