THE BAY OF BENGAL: A GEOPOLITICAL HOTSPOT FOR INDIA

The Bay of Bengal is increasingly becoming a new strategic battleground in the Indo-Pacific

- SHREYA MUNDHRA

On August 13, the arrival of a Chinese vessel at Hambantota port in Sri Lanka generated a big buzz in the media. Yet, the event caught the attention of Indian officials and defence and geopolitical analysts first. Colombo giving this particular vessel permission to visit the port, which Beijing has taken on a 99-year lease, concerned New Delhi. The ship's docking was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg that is the region's geopolitics. It was, in fact, reflective of the ever-increasing importance of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean Region and the fierce regional and quasi-global competition that comes with a territory becoming a geostrategic hotspot.

The "spy ship" concern

Yuan Wang-5, a satellite-tracking vessel belonging to Beijing, received permission from Sri Lanka to arrive at the Chinese-funded Hambantota port. This was the second approval for the visit the crisis-ridden island country's Foreign Affairs Ministry provided to this vessel. In the weeks following the first permission, granted on July 12, India raised concerns over the ship's visit.

India's anxiety is likely to have been regarding the fact that vessels of the Yuan Wang-class are believed to be capable of not just tracking and supporting satellites but also intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Reportedly, the People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force utilises ships of this kind. However, Sri Lanka maintained that it is a "scientific research ship" that conducted "satellite control and research tracking" in the northwestern part of the IOR throughout the vessel's 6-day visit.