India has come out with a notice to airmen (NOTAM), announcing that it would be needing 5,400 km of the air space starting from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha in a southerly direction over the Bay of Bengal. The 5,400-km-specific NOTAM indicates that an ‘Agni-V’ series missile could be test-fired, a source who tracks missiles said. But nothing could be speculated on the nature of the missile, he added.

 ‘Yuan Wang 5’ is a missile-tracking ship and it is in the international waters. Last month, another vessel ‘Yuan Wang 6’ had entered the Indian Ocean, coinciding with a planned Indian missile launch which was then deferred.

In August, ‘Yuan Wang 5’ was slated to visit Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port. When India protested with the neighbouring country, Colombo deferred the visit of the Chinese vessel.

Built at Jiangnan shipyard in China, ‘Yuan Wang 5’ entered service in 2007. Termed as a “research vessel” by the Chinese, it is a spy ship equipped with a tracking technology on board for transoceanic aerospace observation. It has an effective range of almost 700 to 750 km radius, which means that the vessel can spy on the India’s planned missile test.

A US Department of Defence report titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” released on November 30 describes how the Strategic Support Force (SSF) and the Space Systems Department (SSD) of China operate such assets.

“The SSF operates tracking, telemetry and command stations in several locations worldwide. The SFF and the SSD operates Yuan Wang space support ships that track satellite and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches,” read the report.

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China’s base in Djibouti is its first overseas military base, built at a cost of $590 million and has been under construction since 2016. It is located by the strategic Bab-El-Mandeb Strait which separates the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and guards the approach to the Suez Canal, one of the most critical channels of international commerce.

China’s Djibouti base “is built in a fortified way, with layers of defences which appear almost medieval, like a modern day colonial fort. It is clearly designed to withstand direct assault,” says Naval Analyst HI Sutton of Covert Shores.

 Significantly, the images from imagery provider Maxar show a Chinese Yuzhao-class landing ship (Type 071) docked along a 320-metre-long berthing area located near an apron that supports helicopter operations.

“The base appears fully operational though there is more construction work likely to take place,” says Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (retired). “They can positively dock ships on both sides of the breakwater. Though the width of the jetty is narrow, it is large enough to take on a Chinese helicopter carrier.”

The ship, identified as the Changbai Shan, is a large 25,000-tonne vessel designed to embark up to 800 soldiers and a combination of vehicles, air-cushioned landing craft and helicopters. It is thought to have been accompanied by a frontline Chinese destroyer when it entered the waters of the Indian Ocean this year.

“The Type-071 landing ship is very large and can carry many tanks, trucks and even hovercraft,” says HI Sutton. “A fleet of these form the backbone of China’s amphibious assault forces, although even more impressive ships are now joining the fleet. Its size and capability means that it is also used for logistics missions, transporting vital supplies.”

 Yuzhao-class ships are designed to operate as flagships of a Chinese task force engaged in a range of operations from amphibious assaults to humanitarian support. The Chinese Navy has inducted five ships of this class with three more in various phases of fitting-out before they are commissioned.

Images of the fully operational base in Djibouti come at a time when China has docked the 25,000-tonne satellite and ballistic missile tracking ship Yuan Wang 5 in the Sri Lankan port of Hambantota. Sri Lanka belatedly allowed China to dock the ship for replenishment after initially asking Beijing to defer its arrival after concerns voiced by New Delhi.

“With a robust tracking, sensing and communication relay system the Yuan Wang 5 is certainly capable of detecting foreign satellites, aerial assets and missile systems. This allows the vessel to support Chinese military missions far from home,” says Damien Symon, a senior researcher with The Intel Lab who has been tracking the movement of the ship as it entered the Indian Ocean.

“The presence of the vessel in the Indian Ocean region allows it to monitor space events located away from the Chinese mainland while possibly providing an extended real time communication network to its overseas bases and ground assets, such as deployments in Djibouti, peacekeeping forces in Africa and anti-piracy maritime missions.”

 For India, there is a possibility of China being able to directly to track key satellite assets. “With the current India-China border crisis seeing no immediate resolution, the deployment of the vessel could possibly allow for monitoring of Indian reconnaissance assets that were reportedly tasked for surveillance missions around border surveillance, terrorist infiltration detection and anti-terrorist operations.”

China’s presence in both Sri Lanka and Djibouti are closely linked to its economic investments in both countries under its long-term ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. Beijing holds the majority of Djibouti’s debt which is reportedly more than 70 per cent of the gross domestic product, or GDP, of the African nation. And has effectively taken possession of the Hambantota port through the creation of a joint entity with Sri Lanka for a lease of 99 years. This is after Colombo was unable to repay $100 million annually for the $1.7 billion loan that it had taken for the construction of the port, the first phase of which was completed in 2010.

Former Indian Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash says New Delhi should be under no illusion about China’s maritime intentions or capabilities. “It’s now been 14 years since they established a standing patrol off the Horn of Africa. Initially there was a lot of scepticism of their ability to maintain a distant presence. But they have shown that they can do this. They have kept ships on station for six to nine months.”

China’s presence in Djibouti is part of a detailed plan to establish its presence in the Indian Ocean, directed not just at the US Navy which has major bases in the Persian Gulf but also at the Indian Navy, the next largest in the region. The port of Gwadar in Pakistan will also be key to any further expansion in the region.

“What we see happening today is a manifestation of a well-planned, deliberate strategy of spreading their maritime influence,” says Admiral Prakash.

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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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The Yuan Wang-class ship was expected to dock in Hambantota Port on 11 or 12 August 11. It tracks satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The ship, which has a crew of 400, is equipped with a large parabolic tracking antenna and various sensors.

If deployed in parts of the Indian Ocean, the ship may be able to monitor India’s missile tests from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.  By tracking Indian ballistic missile tests, China will be able to glean information on the performance of missiles and their exact range.

The Sri Lankan government has told NDTV that they will allow the ship to dock since it is a non-nuclear platform but are aware of India’s concerns. “China informed us that they are sending their ship for surveillance and navigation in the Indian Ocean,” said Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry media spokesman Colonel Nalin Herath.

Indian government sources said they are monitoring the progress of the ship. India has made it clear it will closely monitor “any bearing on India’s security and economic interests and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them”.

The ship is controlled by the China National Space Administration but has very significant military applications.

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 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 defaulted on its $51 billion in foreign debts in April and has since opened bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.

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.

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