CCP Sends Survey Vessel to Sri Lankan Port It Controls

It was reported that the Chinese Communist Party recently deployed a survey vessel in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port has angered nearby India, which has strongly condemned it.
The CCP’s scientific research vessel “Yuan Wang 5” is en route to the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota, where it is expected to arrive on Aug. 11th. The Yuan Wang 5 will conduct space tracking, satellite control and research tracking in the northwestern Indian Ocean region throughout August and September.
India condemned the CCP’s research mission as a possible threat to New Delhi’s “security and economic interests. New Delhi said it views such an act as a direct threat to not only Sri Lanka’s sovereignty but also to India.
Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) allow the CCP to fund new infrastructure projects or develop older ones in low-income nations. Projects are often based on abusive loan structures that can drive economies that are already in difficulty taking on more debt in Beijing. Sri Lanka was forced to sign documents in 2017 to relinquish its control of Hambantota Port, which was ceded to Beijing on a 99-year lease after it defaulted on debts owed through BRI loans.