Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Ali Sabri, has addressed concerns over the Chinese research vessel Xi Yan-6, stating that the government has not yet granted permission for the vessel to dock at a Sri Lankan port. He emphasized the importance of India’s security issues to Sri Lanka when questioned by Indian media regarding the controversial vessel’s scheduled arrival in October.
The Xi Yan-6 is a research vessel equipped for ocean floor mapping, a capability vital to the Chinese Navy’s anti-submarine operations. However, India has expressed concerns, labeling the vessel as a defense surveillance ship.
Foreign Minister Ali Sabri explained that Sri Lanka follows a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for permitting ships to anchor at its ports. He indicated that consultations were held with various countries, including India, during the formulation of this SOP. As long as a vessel complies with the SOP, Sri Lanka does not object to its presence. However, any deviation from the SOP would pose a problem.
“That’s a conversation going on for some period of time. India has expressed its concerns over a long time, but we have come out with the SOP (standard operating procedure). When we were making that, we consulted many of our friends, including India. So, as long as it complies with the SOP, we have no problem. But if it doesn’t comply with the SOP, we have a problem,” Ali Sabry told ANI.
These comments came in response to the security concerns expressed by India and the US. US Under-Secretary Victoria Nuland also raised the matter during her meeting with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabri at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
President Ranil Wickramasinghe had previously mentioned that Sri Lanka had established a standard operating procedure for foreign vessels and made it accessible to all nations, asserting that China should not be excluded from the process.
