Open-source, ship-tracking data showed China has recently sent three research vessels to the Indian Ocean to survey the strategic waters that border its competitor India.
The movements of the Chinese ships—the Xiang Yang Hong 03, the Hai Yang Shi You 718, and the Bei Diao 996—were recorded on the Global Fishing Watch website, a group that tracks commercial fishing and coast guard vessels in the different bodies of water around the world.
All three vessels were underway in the Eastern Indian Ocean this week, potentially adding to India’s already uneasy relationship with China. The two nuclear-armed countries have had multiple armed standoffs and skirmishes in the past, and New Delhi considers itself the dominant player in the region.
The Indian Ocean serves as a route between Europe and Asia via waterways like the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the west and the Strait of Malacca to the east. To the northwest is the Arabian Sea, which links the Persian Gulf by the Strait of Hormuz.
The ocean is also an important route international trade and transport, accounting for one-third of the world’s bulk cargo traffic and two-thirds of the world’s oil shipments.
The importance of the Indian Ocean is reflected by the renaming of the U.S. Pacific Command to the Indo-Pacific Command in 2018. The military said this recognized the increasing connectivity between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
New Delhi has been strengthening its naval presence in the Indian Ocean in response to expanding Chinese maritime activities in the region. The Indian navy considers the ocean as an area of vital importance and the country itself as a security provider for its neighbors.
The Xiang Yang Hong 03 reached the Indian Ocean on July 11 after a brief stop in Malaysia. Damien Symon, an open-source intelligence expert, mapped the ship’s movement in the region in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter).
The vessel is a 4,500-ton oceanographic research ship, capable of carrying out long-distance scientific research. It belongs to China’s national marine research fleet and is owned by the Third Institute of Oceanography under the country’s natural resources ministry.
It returned to the South China Sea on September 5, according to Global Fishing Watch data.
Third Institute of Oceanography
During an observation mission in the Pacific Ocean in August and September 2017, the Xiang Yang Hong 03 deployed two underwater sensors in international waters southeast of Hawaii, collecting data during a 257-mile submerged survey.
The ship has visited the Maldives twice this year, causing concern in neighboring India as data collected by it has both civilian and military applications. The archipelagic state has tilted toward Beijing under the rule of “pro-China” President Mohamed Muizzu.
Researchers believe the Xiang Yang Hong series of vessels form part of China’s dual-use maritime research effort to survey the seafloor and aid in the navy’s submarine capabilities.
According to the U.S. Naval War College, China has been expanding its oceanographic research. It claimed that five to 10 Chinese scientific research ships may be found on any given day operating outside the country’s jurisdictional waters in the Indo-Pacific region.
By collecting data in distant oceans—like the deployment of surface buoys in the Indian Ocean to transmit meteorological and oceanographic information in real-time—these scientific research vessels can support the development of China’s maritime capabilities for global operations.
Of the 64 active Chinese oceanographic research vessels, more than 80 percent have engaged in suspect behavior or had links to organizations that are suspected of advancing Beijing’s geopolitical agenda, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
China has denied in the past that the Xiang Yang Hong 03 has been spying in the Indian Ocean. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing claimed the country’s scientific research was for peaceful purposes and strictly complied with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
China Oilfield Services
The Hai Yang Shi You 718 is one of China Oilfield Services’ vessels deployed for marine seismic surveys. The company claims to be the leading integrated oil field services provider in the Asian offshore market.
The international treaty on maritime law states that research conducted in the economic waters or on the continental shelf of another state can only be carried out with the consent of that nation.
As of Sunday, it was underway in the Andaman Sea, which is a smaller sea in the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean bordering Myanmar and Thailand to the east. Global Fishing Watch suggests it was operating off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, just outside India‘s exclusive economic zone.
Tracking data shows the 3,000-ton ship has surveyed extensively off Indonesia since the beginning of year. According to a report earlier this month by Indonesian newspaper International Daily News, the Hai Yang Shi You 718 completed seismic surveys in at least three areas in Indonesia.
TGS, a Norway-based provider of energy data and intelligence, announced on September 6 that it had begun seismic surveys in Indonesia’s Sumatra basin using the Chinese vessel.
Sumatra, an island situated in the western part of the Indonesian archipelago and facing the Indian Ocean to the west, has been a productive region for oil and gas production.
China Classification Society
Meanwhile, the Bei Diao 996 left Sanya on China’s southern island province of Hainan on August 4 and reached the Indian Ocean on August 12. According to tracking data, it remained in the waters off Sri Lanka, a close neighbor of India, this week.
The 6,700-ton vessel, capable of operating drones, is the largest test ship with a twin hull in China. It performs tasks such as scientific research tests, environmental investigations, marine scientific expeditions, and deep-sea equipment testing.
The presence of the Chinese ships in the Indian Ocean comes as India continued to bolster its military capabilities. An Indian Agni-4 intermediate-range ballistic missile was successfully launched on September 6 from a test range in Odisha, situated on the country’s east coast.
The test passed all operational and technical parameters, the Indian Defense Ministry said. The missile, which is in deployment status, has a range of more than 2,100 miles and is capable of delivering a single nuclear warhead, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
The Chinese and Indian foreign ministries did not respond to separate written requests for comment.