Sri Lanka’s new cabinet of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has yet to discuss removing a temporary one-year ban on Chinese vessels coming to Sri Lanka waters, Cabinet Spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said.
The ban was imposed by former leader Ranil Wickremesimghe’s government in December last year. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the ban was for 2024 and will end on December 21 this year.
The decision to ban research ships was taken following strong security concerns raised by India citing possible spying by foreign research vessels in the Indian Ocean, government officials have said.
When asked if the new government would lift the ban, the Cabinet Spokesman said: “We didn’t discuss it in the last cabinet. I will answer this next time.”
Previous Cabinet Spokesman Vijitha Herath before the Parliamentary polls said the matter would be discussed after the general elections in which Dissanayake’s Marxists-leaned National People’s Power (NPP) won a strong mandate with more than two-thirds.
Former Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in mid this year said Sri Lanka will resume permitting calls from foreign research vessels at its ports from next year, as the government “cannot only block China”.
Sri Lanka temporarily banned foreign research ships citing it wants to establish a SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for such vessels and all other vessels before removing the ban.
Two Chinese research ships were allowed to dock in Sri Lanka ports within 14 months with one called for replenishment and the other for research.
In August 2022, Chinese navy vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked at Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka for replenishment.
Chinese research ship Shi Yan 6 arrived in Sri Lanka in October 2023 and docked in Colombo port, for what Beijing citing was for “geophysical scientific research” in collaboration with the island nation’s National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).
Both drew strong Indian protests citing security concerns in the Indian Ocean.
India uses the Colombo port as its main transshipment hub and accounts for around 70 percent of the total transshipment volume of the port.