Navy: India expels Chinese research vessel

India has expelled a Chinese research ship for entering the Indian waters without permission, allegedly for research activities.

The Chinese research vessel Shi Yan-1 was in India's exclusive economic zone in September near Andaman islands when Indian surveillance teams spotted it. The officials asked the crew to leave Indian waters immediately.

“Our stand is that if you have to work in our Exclusive Economic Zone, then you have to take our permission,” Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh said here on Tuesday, confirming the incident. He was addressing a press conference ahead of the Navy Day.

Singh said Indian Navy kept a close watch on the movement of Chinese ships and submarines in the Indian Ocean as 6-8 Chinese vessels were present in the region at any point of time.

China and Pakistan are scheduled to hold an exercise in the north Arabian Sea next year for which their vessels will have to pass through the Indian Ocean region.

Announcing the joint exercise in Beijing last week, the Chinese Ministry of Defence spokesperson Col Ren Guoqiang said PLA Navy would send five ships including destroyers, frigates and submarine rescue vessels for the exercise.

On why China was not invited for the Milan 2020 exercise in Vishakhapatnam in which 41 nations would participate, Admiral Singh said only those nations were called for drill with whom Indian Navy had exercised in the past and established an interoperability framework.

“With China, we have not done even a PassEx (Passage Exercise),” he said. Asked whether a bilateral exercise between Indian and Chinese PLA Navy would happen in the future, he quipped, “Its a question above my pay grade.”