Chinese spy ship Yuan Wang 5, is reported to be mapping the Indian Ocean bed 2000 kilometres south of Sri Lanka  with the possible objective of exploring a new sea route from China to Africa’s eastern seaboard bypassing the contested Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok Straits of Indonesia.

With the area around these straits being closely  monitored by Indian Navy ships and Predator UAVs as they are in close proximity to Andamans and Nicobar Islands, naval experts believe that Yuan Wang 5 may be charting a new route to East Africa that does not allow the Indian Navy to exercise leverage on Chinese ships, according to a report in the Hindustan Times.

The new route will completely avoid the shortest sea lanes of communication from South China Sea to the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Aden and take a longer route through Ombai Wetar Straits.

This route will allow Chinese ships unhindered access to the eastern seaboard of Africa and reach ports such as Mombasa in Kenya as well as those in Tanzania, and Mozambique where Beijing has heavily invested under the Belt Road Initiative (BRI). China has also established a base in Djibouti.

According to available information, the 11000-ton vessel is moving deep into the Indian Ocean and will proceed towards its home port Shanghai via the Ombai-Wetar Straits near East Timor and north of Australia, the Hindustan Times report states.

The activities of the spy ship are worrying for India from the security standpoint and New Delhi had taken strong exception to the vessel being allowed to berth at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port by the Ranil Wickremesinghe government.

Hambantota Port was leased to China for 99 years in 2017 by the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a debt for equity swap as Sri Lanka could not pay back the Chinese loan. The vessel left Hambantota on August 22 after Sri Lankans replenished the ship with food, fuel and other necessities.