The strategic ship has come to be a bone of contention among India and China after the previous voiced its concerns over the vessel being allowed to berth at Hambantota port with the aid of the Ranil Wickremesinghe regime beneath stress from Beijing.
The Chinese marine studies, satellite and ballistic missile vessel, Yuan Wang 5, is currently mapping Indian ocean mattress 2000 kilometers (1100 nautical miles) south of Sri Lanka giving rise to the possibility of Beijing exploring a new sea direction to Africa’s eastern seaboard by using bypassing contested Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok Straits.
According to to be had statistics, the 11000-ton vessel is transferring deep into the Indian Ocean and could proceed towards its homeport Shanghai via the Ombai-Wetar Straits near East Timor and north of Australia.
The strategic deliver has become a bone of contention among India and China after the previous voiced its concerns over the vessel being allowed to berth at Hambantota port via the Ranil Wickremesinghe regime.
The Hambantota Port become leased to China for 99 years in 2017 by way of the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a debt for fairness swap as Sri Lanka had defaulted at the Chinese mortgage. The vessel left Hambantota on August 22 after Sri Lankans replenished the ship with food, diesel, oil, and lubricants.
Ombai-Wetar Straits near East Timor and north of Australia .
With Malacca, Sunda and Lombok Straits of Indonesia all monitored with the aid of India thru ships and Predator UAVs as they may be in near proximity to Andamans and Nicobar Islands, naval specialists accept as true with that Yuan Wang 5 can be charting a new course to East Africa that doesn't permit the Indian Navy to workout leverage on Chinese ships.
The new direction will absolutely avoid the shortest sea lanes of communique from South China sea to Persian Gulf and Gulf of Aden and take an extended course through Ombai Wetar Straits.
The new path will permit Chinese ships unhindered get admission to to jap seaboard of Africa, in which Beijing has heavily invested below the Belt Road Initiative (BRI) and has additionally set up a base in Djibouti. The new direction may be deep south of Sri Lanka and will allow smooth get entry to to Chinese ships to ports like Mombasa in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
The ocean mattress mapping additionally helps in anti-submarine operations as the equatorial waters are elaborate due to vast differences between the floor and sub-floor temperatures.