ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, clarifying the government’s decision on one-year temporary ban over foreign research vessels said the moratorium is ending on December 31 and it has not relaxed yet.
Cabinet Spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa on Thursday said the ban had been relaxed and requests for foreign research vessels will be considered on a case by case basis.
Sri Lanka is under pressure from India not to allow Chinese research vessels citing security concerns.
“It will continue until 31st of December,” Minister Herath told reporters on Friday (19).
Sri Lanka temporarily banned foreign research ships for one-year citing it wants to establish a SOP (Standard Operation Procedure) for such vessels and all other vessels before removing the ban. However, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry officials say there was no such SOP established.
However, officials in foreign embassies and high commissions in Colombo say the Sri Lankan government has yet to send them an SOP on foreign ships.
Minister Herath said the government has decided to appoint a committee to formulate a national policy and framework to handle all foreign vessels arriving in Sri Lanka.
“According to the committee’s report, we will prepare the new SOPs and using that SOP, we will take that decision. End this year, we can start that,” he said.
The committee is expected to be appointed in January 2025.
“We categorically said that and now also I am saying that we will consider that matter, not only for Chinese research ships, but all the research ships.”
China has been in the process of sending its research ships into the Sri Lankan water belonging to the Indian Ocean; a move India has strongly raised concerns over the region’s security.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is expected to visit China in mid January on an official invitation from President Xi Jinping. He visited India early this week as his first foreign visit since he was elected in September.
INDIAN CONCERNS
He said India has asked Sri Lanka to safeguard its territorial integrity and protect regional security.
“That was their concern. We are also on the same page. That’s why we categorically said that we will not give our land detrimental to India or our region. That’s our stance. In that scenario, we will take that decision according to our special committee’s report,” Herath said.
“We will prepare the new SOP. There are some proposals, there are some suggestions. But we have to update those SOP with regard to the present situation,” he said when asked about the SOP prepared during the last one year.
A top Chinese ruling party official on Wednesday told President Dissanayake that Beijing was planning to start its maritime research in the Indian Ocean.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri on Monday (16) expressed confidence in Sri Lanka of giving due care for the security concerns over the visits of Chinese research vessels.
Two Chinese research ships were allowed to dock in Sri Lanka ports within 14 months through October 2023 with one called for replenishment and the other for research purposes.
In August 2022, Chinese navy vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked at Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka for replenishment.
Chinese research ship Shi Yan 6 arrived in Sri Lanka in October 2023 and docked in Colombo port, for what Beijing citing was for “geophysical scientific research” in collaboration with the island nation’s National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA).
Both drew strong Indian protests citing security concerns in the Indian Ocean.
India uses the Colombo port as its main transshipment hub and accounts for around 70 percent of the total transshipment volume of the port. (Colombo/December 20/2024)