Chinese spy ship to reach Male, Indian Navy keeps a watch

Maldivian President is continuing with his anti-India campaign for a win at Majlis election in April.

A Chinese dual-use survey ship will enter Malé seaport for rotation of personnel and replenishment on Thursday  8 Feb afternoon even as India has decided that a civilian crew will replace the existing non-civilian one from India for one Maldivian ALH helicopter in March

Maldivian President Mohammed Muizzu has made the replacement of the crew of the three aircraft, operated by India in the Maldives for relief and rescue, an election issue for the Majlis elections in April.

While the Muizzu government has made it clear that the Chinese ship Xiang Yang Hong 3 will only be allowed into Malé port for operational turnaround and will not be conducting any “research” in the Maldivian exclusive economic zone, the ship has both civilian research and military surveillance capabilities. The ship has been behaving suspiciously since it left its port of Sanya in China and the crew was pulled up by Indonesian Navy for switching off its transponder at least three times while crossing the Sunda Straits. Ships do this only when they do not want to be tracked.