This Chinese ship has been in the voyage for about 28 days

Colombo:

Officials at Sri Lanka's Hambantota port have said that the high-tech Chinese research vessel has not reached the port as per schedule.

The vessel was to reach this port on Thursday.

The special thing is that in the past, India had expressed concern about the possible presence of this ship in Sri Lanka.

It was only after this that Sri Lanka asked China not to bring this ship to their port.

The 'Harbour Master' of Hambantota port has said that no ship can enter the port without his permission, reported newsfirst.lk website.

The 'Harbour Master' had said that the Chinese ballistic missile and satellite surveillance ship 'Yuan Wang 5' would not reach Hambantota port on Thursday.

Last week, Sri Lanka's foreign ministry asked Beijing to postpone the arrival of 'Yuan Wang 5', which was to anchor at Hambantota port from August 11 to 17, due to security concerns expressed by India.

However, no announcement was made whether the vessel would be allowed to enter the Hambantota port.

'Yuan Wang 5' departed China on July 14 and has not entered a single port on its way so far.


The ship has been in voyage for about 28 days.

Sri Lanka's foreign ministry on 12 July gave the nod for the ship to be anchored at the Hambantota port.

On 8 August, the ministry, in a letter to the Chinese embassy in Colombo, requested the ship to postpone the stay as per the schedule.

However, the ministry did not specify the reason for such request.

'Yuan Wang 5' by that time had entered the Indian Ocean.

The port of Hambantota is considered strategically important.

The port has been largely developed with the help of Chinese loans.

As of Thursday evening, 'Yuan Vang 5' was about 600 nautical miles from the southern port of Hambantota in Sri Lankan waters, newsfirst.lk reported.

The ship will now pass through the Bay of Bengal from the east of Sri Lanka.