In news that is emerging from the Oceans, the Indian Navy has pushed back a Chinese ship named Shi Yan 1, a Chinese Research vessel that had intruded into India’s Exclusive Economic Zone, off the coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands near its capital Port Blair.
The reports have suggested that the ship was carrying out research activities on Indian waters, without the permission of the government and this is against the international maritime law.
Authorities also suspect that the Chinese could have conducting espionage activities in the region.
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After it was detected by a surveillance aircraft, a warship was dispatched. The Chinese ship, immediately moved out of Indian waters after being warned.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands also hosts India’s Tri- Services Command and it is strategically important, as the Indian Navy uses it as a centre to track the presence of various Chinese vessels in the Indian Ocean region and to enlarge India’s maritime interests in the Indo-Pacific region.
In recent times, the Chinese have attempted to conduct espionage activities in and around the Eastern coast of India which hosts certain critical facilities such as the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam island (located off the coast of Odisha and is used to conduct various Missile tests, formerly known as the Wheelers island), the Satish Dhawan space centre (in Andhra Pradesh) amongst others.
The Chinese refuse to abide by the various International Laws related to the high seas and are carrying out various subversive activities (espionage activities), economically unviable projects (Gwadar, Hambantota) and weakly asserts itself in an attempt to emerge as a pseudo imperialist power.