Chinese ‘research ship’ Yuan Wang 5 re-enters Indian Ocean after three years

(NENEWS.IN) Three years after its controversial entry into the Indian Ocean, China’s Yuan Wang 5 — a vessel officially designated as a ‘research ship’ but widely recognised as a sophisticated intelligence-gathering platform — has once again been tracked near the region, sparking fresh concerns in India’s security establishment.

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According to Indian and Bangladeshi naval sources, the ship was located at 11.0288 S and 100.9873° E at 02:38 UTC (around 8:10 pm IST) on Saturday through the Automatic Identification System (AIS). The vessel has been under close watch since it left Indonesia about 36 hours earlier, with Bangladeshi naval officers noting its likely trajectory toward the Bay of Bengal.