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China has been pursuing a strategy to acquire influence in small island nations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), particularly through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI is a massive infrastructure development project that aims to connect Asia, Europe, and Africa through a network of roads, railways, ports, and other infrastructure projects.

In the IOR, China has been investing in infrastructure projects, such as building ports and airports, in small island nations like Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Pakistan. These investments have been met with both praise and criticism, with some seeing them as a way to boost economic development and connectivity, while others see them as a way for China to gain strategic footholds in the region and exert greater influence.

Critics have also raised concerns about the sustainability and feasibility of these projects, as well as the potential for debt-trap diplomacy. Additionally, there are concerns that these projects may not serve the best interests of the host countries and could lead to increased dependence on China.

China has also been increasing its presence in the IOR through its naval and coast guard vessels, which have been patrolling the waters and protecting its shipping lanes. This has raised concerns among other countries in the region and around the world, as it may be perceived as a way for China to assert its military and economic power in the region.

Influence in Sri Lanka

China has been increasing its influence in Sri Lanka through a variety of means. One key way has been through infrastructure development projects, particularly those associated with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). These projects include the construction of ports, airports, and highways, and are aimed at boosting economic development and connectivity in Sri Lanka.

One of the most notable infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka is the development of the port of Hambantota, which China has invested in and now operates. This has been met with criticism from some, as the port has been seen as a debt trap for Sri Lanka, and has raised concerns about China’s increasing control over strategically important infrastructure in the country.

China has also been investing in other infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka such as the Colombo International Financial City, and the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.

Another way China has been increasing its influence in Sri Lanka is through trade and investment. China is one of Sri Lanka’s top trading partners and investors, which has helped to boost the small island nation’s economy.

China has also been increasing its presence in Sri Lanka through its military and coast guard vessels, which have been patrolling the waters around the island nation and protecting its shipping lanes. This has raised concerns among other countries in the region and around the world, as it may be perceived as a way for China to assert its military and economic power in the region.

China’s Debt Trap

There are concerns that China has trapped Sri Lanka in a debt trap through infrastructure development projects, and that this may give China strategic advantages in the IOR, which could threaten India’s security. The Sri Lankan government, however, denies these claims and China has denied the use of debt-trap diplomacy.

One example is the development of the port of Hambantota. In 2010, Sri Lanka agreed to a deal with China to develop the port, which included a loan from China for $361 million. However, the port failed to generate enough revenue to cover the loan payments and Sri Lanka was unable to repay the debt. In 2017, as a result, Sri Lanka was forced to lease the port to China for 99 years to repay the debt.

This has raised concerns that the port, which is located close to India’s southern coast, could be used for military purposes by China, giving it a strategic advantage in the IOR and potentially threatening India’s security.

Another example is the Colombo International Financial City and the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, which were built with Chinese loans but have also failed to generate enough revenue to repay the debt.

Critics argue that this is a pattern of “debt-trap diplomacy” by China, in which it provides loans for infrastructure projects to developing countries, and then, when those countries are unable to repay the debt, uses that as leverage to gain control over strategically important assets.

It is worth noting that Sri Lanka has denied that this is the case and that it has not fallen into a debt trap. Furthermore, China has denied using debt-trap diplomacy, stating that the projects were agreed upon mutually and that the loans were offered on commercial terms.

India’s concerns over Chinese influence

India has expressed concerns over China’s increasing influence in Sri Lanka, particularly in the areas of infrastructure development and military presence.

One of the main concerns is the Hambantota port, which India sees as a potential military threat as it is located close to India’s southern coast. India fears that China may use the port for military purposes.

India has also been concerned about the Colombo International Financial City and the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, as it sees these projects as a way for China to gain greater economic and strategic control over Sri Lanka.

India is also worried about China’s growing military presence in Sri Lanka, as Chinese naval and coast guard vessels have been increasingly patrolling the waters around the island nation. This has raised concerns that China may be seeking to assert its military and economic power in the region.

India has responded to Chinese influence in Sri Lanka by increasing its own engagement with the island nation, through economic and development assistance, and by strengthening its own military presence in the IOR.

Chinese submarine visits to Sri Lanka

India has expressed concerns over the increasing frequency of Chinese submarine visits to Sri Lanka. These visits, which have occurred several times in recent years, are seen as a potential threat to India’s security and strategic interests in the IOR.

One concern is that these submarine visits could give China a military advantage in the region, as submarines are equipped with advanced stealth technology and can be used for a variety of purposes, including reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and power projection.

Another concern is that these visits could be part of a larger strategy by China to establish a foothold in the IOR.

India has also raised concerns about the potential for these submarine visits to be used for espionage or sabotage, as submarines are able to operate covertly and can access sensitive areas undetected.

In response to these concerns, India has also been building stronger ties with other countries in the region, such as the United States, Japan, and Australia, to counterbalance China’s growing influence.

Chinese spy ship visit to Sri Lanka

India has expressed concerns over Chinese spy ship visits to Sri Lanka, as these ships are equipped with advanced surveillance technology and can be used for intelligence gathering and monitoring activities in the IOR.

India is worried that these visits could be used to gather intelligence on India’s naval movements and military capabilities, as well as on its economic and political activities in the region. The Indian government is also concerned that these visits could be used to interfere with its trade and energy security in the region.

India is also worried about the potential for these spy ships to support the Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean, which could be used to assert China’s military and strategic interests in the region.

Chinese military aid to Sri Lanka

China has provided military aid to Sri Lanka in the form of equipment, training, and technical assistance. This aid has been provided to help Sri Lanka improve its defense capabilities and maintain internal security.

China has provided a range of military equipment to Sri Lanka, such as artillery, small arms, and naval vessels. It has also provided training and technical assistance to Sri Lankan military personnel in areas such as counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, and maritime security.

China’s military aid to Sri Lanka has been met with both praise and criticism. Some have welcomed it as a way to help Sri Lanka improve its defence capabilities and maintain internal security, while others have criticized it as a way for China to gain strategic footholds in the region and exert greater influence.

Critics have also raised concerns about the sustainability and feasibility of this aid, as well as the potential for it to be used to support human rights abuses by Sri Lankan government.

Indian military aid to Sri Lanka

India has provided military aid to Sri Lanka in the form of equipment, training, and technical assistance, which has been motivated by its desire to promote stability in the region and to counterbalance the influence of other countries. The aid has been met with mixed reactions, with some seeing it as a way to help Sri Lanka improve its defence capabilities and maintain internal security, while others view it as a way for India to exert greater influence in the region.

India has provided a range of military equipment to Sri Lanka, such as artillery, small arms, and naval vessels. It has also provided training and technical assistance to Sri Lankan military personnel in areas such as counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, and maritime security. Some of the prominent items of military aid have been:

Small arms and ammunition. India has provided small arms such as rifles and pistols, as well as ammunition to Sri Lanka to help improve its defense capabilities.

Artillery. India has provided artillery equipment, such as howitzers and mortars, to Sri Lanka to help improve its artillery capabilities.

Naval vessels. India has provided naval vessels, such as patrol boats and fast attack craft, to Sri Lanka to help improve its maritime security capabilities.

Radars and surveillance equipment. India has provided radars and other surveillance equipment to Sri Lanka to help improve its coastal and maritime surveillance capabilities.

Training and technical assistance. India has provided training and technical assistance to Sri Lankan military personnel in areas such as counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, and maritime security.

India has also been concerned about the potential for terrorism and extremism in Sri Lanka, and has provided aid to help Sri Lanka combat these threats.

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Maj Gen Deepak Mehta

A Chinese ship able to track ballistic missiles and satellites headed for Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, in early August, raising security concerns in India. The move coincided with the Chinese build-up off Taiwan coast that started with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.

After first denying reports of its expected arrival at Hambantota port, Sri Lanka’s defence ministry confirmed, on 6 August, that Yuan Wang 5, which can track satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles, would be docking at the port between 11 and 17 August.

Under pressure from the Indian government, the Sri Lankan government asked the Chinese government to defer the visit of its space-satellite tracker ship Yuan Wang 5 at Hambantota port “until further consultations” were made between the two governments. It was finally cleared to enter port on 12 August. It finally docked on 16 August and left on 22 August.

India has stood shoulder to shoulder with Sri Lanka to tide over the present economic crisis faced by the island nation and has given more than $3.5 billion in aid in terms of petrol, diesel, natural gas, foodstuffs, and medicine.

Yuan Wang 5 was also potentially violating innocent passage requirements in territorial seas as per UNCLOS. The vessel has a capability to snoop on a coastal state. By tracking Indian ballistic missile tests, China will be able to glean information on the performance of missiles and their exact range. The ship is controlled by the China National Space Administration but has very significant military applications.

The Sri Lankan government maintained that that they would allow the ship to dock since it was a non-nuclear platform but were aware of India’s concerns.

Hambabtota May Become Chinese Base

India remains suspicious of China’s growing influence in Sri Lanka, which owes large amounts of money to Beijing for infrastructure projects, including the $1.4-billion Hambantota Port. Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion in foreign debts in April and has since opened bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

Sri Lanka gave a Chinese company a 99-year lease on the port, located along the main East-West international shipping lanes, in 2017 after being unable to keep up with debt repayments on the facility.

Sri Lanka formally handed over commercial activities in its main southern port to a Chinese company in 2017 on a 99-year lease after struggling to repay its debt. The port is near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe.

US and Indian officials have been concerned that the $1.5 billion port could become a Chinese military base.

In 2014, a Chinese submarine had docked at Hambantota Port, sparking security concerns for the Indian Navy. No such Chinese submarine visits to Lankan ports took place since.

About the Chinese Spy Ship

Yuan Wang 5 is the third generation tracking ship of the Yuan Wang series, and entered service in 2007. Built by Jiangnan Shipyard, Yuan Wang 5 has a displacement of 25,000 tonnes and can withstand wind scale up to 12. The Yuan Wang class is not a single class of identical design, but instead, a group of different designs grouped under the same series that share one name.

The ship with a crew of 400, was equipped with a large parabolic tracking antenna and various sensors.

Military Implications

The military and strategic implications of Chinese spy ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’ in the Indian Ocean Region are manifold and will have major consequences for the Indian security architecture. The ship has a distinct role in missile and satellite tracking.

The aerial reach of the ship is more than 750 km and that would indirectly mean that Kalpakkam, Koodankulam, and the atomic research centre within Indian borders can be snooped upon. The ship can track ports of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. As many as six South Indian ports will be under China’s focus and the ship can gather information about vital installations along Southern India.

India’s concerns over Chinese influence in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has welcomed Chinese investments. China is one of Sri Lanka’s biggest lenders and has also funded airports, roads and railways, unsettling India.

As Sri Lanka now battles its worst economic crisis in seven decades, India this year alone has provided it financial support.

The Indian Ocean Region has been an area of traditional influence for New Delhi and an area where New Delhi has legitimate strategic interests. The Chinese have been trying to make inroads from Myanmar to Eastern Africa.

Since it came to light that a Chinese military vessel, the Yuan Wang 5, was to call at Hambantota Port, India had been pressing its grave concern over this to Colombo. After a tense week of negotiations between the two South Asian neighbours, Sri Lanka told the Chinese that the visit of the ship “be deferred until further consultations are made on this matter”.

A Chinese vessel of its surveillance reach has never before sailed in the waters that Yuan Wang wishes to access. The Sri Lankan attempt to pass it off as a “research vessel” on an innocuous refuelling stop was either naive or disingenuous, but in either case, self-defeating.

This was the second time in 19 months that Colombo tried to make light of India’s security concerns on account of the Chinese presence in Sri Lanka. Last January, the Sri Lankan government awarded a renewable energy project on three islands close to the Tamil Nadu coastline, to a Chinese firm. It took much diplomatic energy on India’s part, and a commitment to develop the same project through a grant, to have that decision reversed.

Instability in any country in the region, whether that is Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan or Afghanistan, tends to impact India adversely and in unexpected ways. The Chinese ship apparently got its clearance from the foreign ministry on July 12. This was a time of political vacuum in Sri Lanka. It may have been an attempt at political sabotage.

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On January 17, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that “it would be a great relief to the country if attention could be paid to restructuring the debt repayments as a solution to the economic crisis that has arisen in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

However, China rejected the request with Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin remarking, “Sri Lanka will surely overcome the temporary difficulties as soon as possible.” Over the past few weeks, the country has struggled to pay off its fuel import bills.

Recently, India also provided financial assistance of 2.4 billion USD to Sri Lanka following a two-day official visit of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, GL Peiris to India from February 6 to 8. GL Peiris said that Colombo was committed to special relations with New Delhi.
Earlier in February, the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka handed over 40,000 MT fuel consignment by Indian Oil Corp Ltd to Sri Lankan Energy Minister, Udaya Gammanpila.

In October last year, the Department of Agriculture in Colombo detected the highly contaminated organic fertilizer sent by China and cancelled the fertilizer and requested India to export nano nitrogen liquid fertilizer.

Fears have also been rife in Colombo regarding Chinese loans, as the country has previously been forced to hand over strategic projects like Hambantota port to the Chinese on lease over non-repayment of loans.

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He also claims that the Sri Lankan government is out to deceive India. “It is to pretend as if India is their ally. It is to make false promises, to ensure that India does not interfere in the issue of power-sharing with the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. It is also to keep India from being angered by Colombo’s actions in pursuing China’s wishes in Sri Lanka,” he said.

“With the emergence of China in Sri Lanka, India’s concern is much greater than before. Three islands in our Northern Province are very close to India – barely 52 kilometres away. China is trying to set up various projects on those islands, for generating electricity, among other things. It’s not going to be easy for India to just watch and keep quiet. So, the need for India to safeguard, help and protect us is in India’s own interest. By protecting the Tamils of Sri Lanka’s north and east, India protects itself. And India can rest assured, that we Tamils of those provinces, will be very favourable towards India, as opposed to China. When the SL govt is wooing the Chinese in so many ways and has already given 15000 acres in southern Sri Lanka to China on a 99-year lease, India has to be very careful,” he claimed.

China has suspended a project to install hybrid energy plants in three islands of Sri Lanka, citing “security concern” from a “third party”, amid reports of India raising concern over its location.

China had won a Asian Development Bank contract after bidding for the project in Jaffna’s Delft, Nainathivu and Alanathivu islets – all located with close proximity to India. India had reportedly expressed their concerns over the Chinese presence in the islets.

In January, the Chinese firm, Sino Soar Hybrid Technology, was awarded the contract to install a hybrid renewable energy system in Delft, Nagadeepa and Analthivu islands, off the coast of Jaffna.

In early 2021, India lodged a “strong protest” with Lanka on the award of the tender to the Chinese company for the construction of renewable energy power plants in Delft, Nagadeepa and Analthivu.

The contract was part of the Supporting Electricity Supply Reliability Improvement Project, which is implemented by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

China is one of the biggest investors in various infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka under Beijing’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). But there has been criticism, both locally and internationally, and growing concerns that China has lured Sri Lanka into a debt trap.

The island nation in 2017 handed over the strategically important Hambantota port to a state-run Chinese firm for a 99-year lease as a debt swap amounting to USD 1.2 billion.

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