Sri Lanka will welcome any research and exploration vessel from any country, including China, said Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in an interview to Indian agency FirstPost
In response to the recent port calls made by China’s Yuan Wang 5 and Shi Yan 6, Ranil Wickremesinghe said that when inquired, there was no evidence to claim the vessels were spy ships.
“What is a spy ship is a big question mark. These are civilian ships, but if there are issues, if there are spy ships, we will not allow them to come in. But as far as exploration is concerned, we allow not only Chinese ships but other ships, but no one highlights the fact that other ships also come to Sri Lanka,” said the President.
He also said that “each time a Chinese ship comes, we get a lot of publicity. But if a ship, a research ship, comes from another country, we are ignored.”
He also said that Sri Lanka is going to develop its own hydrographic unit and get its own ships and “then we can do surveys in around India and China.”