Navy to monitor Chinese ship in Indian Ocean headed to Maldives
Maldives said it received a diplomatic request from China for necessary clearances for the ship to make a port call for rotation of personnel and replenishment
The Indian Navy will monitor Chinese surveillance ship Xiang Yang Hong 3 in the Indian Ocean region to ensure that it does not carry out any exploration activity in the Maldivian Exclusive Economic Zone.
Chinese spy ship Xiang Yang Hong 3. (James S/Marine Traffic)
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On Tuesday, the Mohamed Muizzu government announced that the said ship was coming to Male for operational turn around (OTR), a common jargon for picking up food and oil supplies.
In its statement, Male said, "Concerning the media reports regarding the port call of the Chinese research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 3 at Male, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to inform that a diplomatic request was made by the Government of China to the Government of Maldives, for the necessary clearances to make a port call, for rotation of personnel and replenishment. The vessel would not be conducting any research while in the Maldivian waters.
"The Maldives has always been a welcoming destination for vessels of friendly countries, and continues to host both civilian and military vessels making port calls for peaceful purposes. Such port calls not only enhance bilateral ties between the Maldives and its partner countries, but also demonstrate the centuries old tradition of the Maldivian people welcoming vessels from friendly countries," the Maldivian government statement added.
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According to official sources, the Chinese surveillance ship is currently in south west Indian ocean region and is expected to dock at Male seaport on February 5. India had already expressed its reservations over surveillance activity of the said Chinese spy ship to Sri Lanka and Maldives last year. The Narendra Modi government renewed its concerns to Male after Mohamed Muizzu-led government was sworn in on November 17.
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According to official sources, the Chinese surveillance ship is currently in south west Indian ocean region and is expected to dock at Male seaport on February 5. India had already expressed its reservations over surveillance activity of the said Chinese spy ship to Sri Lanka and Maldives last year. The Narendra Modi government renewed its concerns to Male after Mohamed Muizzu-led government was sworn in on November 17.
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It is on the basis of Indian concerns that Sri Lanka on December 22 announced that it will not allow any surveillance ship in its EEZ for the entire 2024.
The Muizzu government while conveying its no to deep sea exploration activity to the said Chinese ship has allowed a routine OTR at Male seaport. What remains to be seen is that whether the Chinese ship will strict to the rule of the Maldivian government or carry out surveillance in spite of the Tuesday order.
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.
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