The Harbor Master of Hambantota port has said no request has been made so far for a Chinese ship to enter any port in this country. Commenting on inquiries on the arrival of controversial chinese vessel, Yuwan wang 05, which was scheduled to arrive at Hambantota today the Harbor master has said this to the media.
He has pointed out that although the operations of the Hambantota port are carried out by China, the relevant permission must be obtained from him when entering a ship into the port.
The Chinese ship Yuan Wang-5 had received worldwide attention due to the Indian media’s continuous coverage of the Chinese ship.
China had expressed its strong displeasure directly to the Sri Lankan executive regarding the arrival of this ship at Hambantota port. This ship received the official permission of the Government of Sri Lanka to enter Hambantota today (11).
With that permission, India, which expressed a strong opinion about the ship, called the Yuan Wang-5 a research ship but came to the position that its security would be threatened due to its ability to track intercontinental ballistic missiles and satellite positioning.
Due to pressure from India, the government had informed China to delay the arrival of this ship at Hambantota.
But yesterday (09) the Indian NDTV news service had reported that the ship is moving towards Sri Lanka regardless of Sri Lanka’s request. The report also stated that the ship will enter Hambantota by 9.30 this morning.
However, if the Yuan Wang 5 ship requests to enter the Hambantota port, the port controller has stated that he will take necessary steps to deal with it diplomatically.
