Chinese Embassy in Colombo has raised strong protest against a move by Sri Lanka to allow a German research vessel for a port call, diplomatic and government sources said, amid a one year ban on foreign research vessels.
The protest comes after Sri Lankan authorities turned down a Beijing request for a research vessel in February. It was not immediately clear how the German research ship got the approval under the ban.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government has temporarily halted foreign research ships after strong security concerns raised by neighbour India and the United States after the visit of two Chinese research vessels last year.
The government’s one-year ban came into effect ahead of upcoming presidential polls in the second half of 2024.
“China has protested on allowing the German research vessel. China would not have bothered about the matter if the decision was taken by Sri Lankan government on all the foreign vessels,” a diplomat from an Asian country, who is aware of the protest, told EconomyNext.
Another government source confirmed the visit of German research vessel and said China also might seek similar port call since Colombo now has allowed the Berlin vessel.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry officials and Chinese Embassy in Colombo could not be reached for a comment on the protest by the Embassy.
When the ban was announced, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry individually conveyed to the countries which had been sending foreign vessels to Sri Lanka in the last decade.
However, the government failed to specifically its stance on requests for replenishment or crew change for foreign research vessels, the government official said.
Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in December said the government has introduced a SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for foreign research vessels and all other vessels circulated among the countries which have sent their military vessels during the last 10 years.
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.
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.
In August 2022, Chinese navy vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked at Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka for replenishment.
Chinese protest also comes ahead of Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s official visit to Beijing on March 25 to discuss a raft of bilateral issues.