look news india
Male: China's alleged marine research vessel Jiang Yang Hong has reached Male, the capital of Maldives. The ship reached Male on Thursday after spending almost a month near the Exclusive Economic Zone of Maldives. It is not clear where the ship will go from here. However, this ship has been accused of spying for India. Even before this, when the ship had reached Sri Lanka, India was keeping a close watch on it. India had protested against the arrival of another such ship in Sri Lanka.
Jiang Yang-3 began its journey on January 14, 24 hours after the end of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzou's political visit to China. Marine traffic tracking websites show that the ship is currently near Thilafusi. However, the ship had not been seen on normal tracking sites since January 22.
China's Jiang Yang-3 ship has been accused of spying on countries across the Arabian Sea after it repeatedly switched off its tracking system. The ship was in the Java Sea near Indonesia on January 22. Satellite AIS tracking showed the ship was in the Maldives' EEZ. It is believed that the Chinese ship Jiang Wang-3 stayed here for about a month.
Maldives has said that the Chinese ship had come to its waters only for rotation and replenishment. This Chinese ship is about 100 meters long. This ship was included in the fleet of China's State Oceanic Administration in 2016. At present this is China's only ship of 4,500 tons. Since 2019, China has been using this ship to survey remote waters and deep sea. The vessel can also be used for microbial genetic studies, underwater mineral exploration and studies.
Amidst the tense relations between India and Maldives, a Chinese spy ship has reached the waters of Maldives, which is a matter of concern for India. The Maldives government has given permission to the Chinese ship to dock in Male. However, the approval given to this Chinese ship in the name of survey is a matter of security concern for India.
Jiang Yang Hong-3 has visited the Indian Ocean several times. Indonesian officials also became worried when it passed through Indonesia's Sunda Strait in 2021. India expressed concern over the arrival in Colombo of Yuan Wang-5, a military ship capable of monitoring rocket and missile launches in 2022.