Indian navy helicopters were seen conducting sorties and flying low across the Palk Strait this morning, as they stepped up surveillance in the Rameswaram area, following the docking of a Chinese ship in Sri Lanka yesterday.
Training exercises were seen being carried out by the navy, with a reported increase in navy and coast guard patrol ships and helicopters in the region.
The increased Indian presence comes as despite protests from Washington and Delhi, Sri Lankan officials u-turned on their decision to defer the docking of a Chinese military ship, Yuan Wang 5, and have instead welcomed the vessel in Hambantota yesterday.
Whilst the ship was initially scheduled to arrive at the Chinese-owned port on 11 August, following pressure from India, Sri Lanka officials had agreed to indefinitely defer the vessel, which Indian officials accused of being a “spy ship”. New Delhi has refuted claims that Sri Lanka was pressured into this initial deferral.
Chinese officials rebuked India’s interference claiming it was “morally reprehensible” and maintaining that the vessel was a “scientific research ship”.
Read more here: Sri Lanka U-turns, allowing Chinese spy ship to dock in Hambantota