Yuan Wang 5 – DEFENCE AND SECURITY
News: Chinese
surveillance vessel ‘Yuan Wang 5’ re-enters Indian Ocean
What's in the news?
● Chinese surveillance
vessel ‘Yuan Wang 5’ has re-entered the
Indian Ocean in what coincides with a planned Indian long-range missile test,
between December 15-16.
● In
a similar incident last month, another vessel ‘Yuan Wang 6’ had entered the
Indian Ocean Region (IOR) coinciding with a planned Indian missile launch, but
the launch was then deferred.
● In
August, the docking of ‘Yuan Wang 5’ at Hambantota
in Sri Lanka had created a major diplomatic showdown between India and Sri
Lanka.
Key takeaways:
● The
Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean began in 2008 under the garb of
anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and have since maintained continuous
presence in the region, even deploying nuclear attack submarines (SSN), on
occasions.
● China
had since set up a military base in Djibouti and developed several dual-use
ports in the IOR in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan, among other countries.
○ Sri Lanka - Hambantota
○ Myanmar - Sittwe
○ Pakistan - Gwadar.