China: Ship didn’t conduct experiment in Indian waters

INDIAN NAVY CHIEF HAD SAID A CHINESE VESSEL WAS DRIVEN AWAY FROM INDIAN WATERS NEAR THE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS

BEIJING: China has said it had evidence to prove that one of its top research ships, expelled by the Indian navy for operating in Indian waters illegally recently, was actually conducting experiments in international waters.

The Chinese foreign ministry said the fact that the ship Shiyan-1, or Experiment-1, was working in international waters was supported by operational logbooks and GPS tracking records.

The ship, the foreign ministry said, only sailed through Indian waters, basically saying it didn’t conduct any experiment in those waters. In a statement to HT, the foreign ministry asked India not to disturb normal and lawful maritime activities.

Earlier this week, navy chief chief Admiral Karambir Singh that the Chinese research vessel was “…recently driven away from Indian waters near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as it did not have permission to operate there”. Reports said an Indian navy maritime surveillance aircraft spotted the Chinese ship inside the islands’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) – an area extending 200 nautical miles off its coastline, according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea – and a warship was dispatched to drive it away.

The incident involved the Shiyan-1. It is a research vessel and is jointly built by the Institute of Acoustics, the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, and the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China’s top scientific research institution.

The detailed foreign ministry statement – the Chinese version was shared with HT — denied the vessel had broken any law. “China has taken note of the remarks made by the Indian navy chief of staff on the Indian navy’s ‘ expulsion’ of the Chinese r e s e arch vessel “Experiment-1”...

“It has been verified that the research vessel “Experiment-1” was conducting acoustic propagation experiments and hydrologic environment measurements on the high seas of the Indian Ocean. It did not conduct any operations in the Indian EEZ during the whole process, and only sailed through the Indian EEZ on the way to and from the experimental area,” the statement added. The statement said that throughout the ship’s voyage, the Indian navy aircraft followed it “…with shouts, and the crew also replied in accordance with international practice”.

“China has always exercised the freedom of scientific research on the high seas in accordance with the law...,” the statement added. There was no immediate response from Indian officials to China’s statement.