India's **22** province said that global ship tracking data showed that China's "Xiangyanghong 03" scientific research ship arrived in Malé, the capital of the Maldives, on the same day. Some Indian media and Western ** exaggerated that New Delhi is vigilant about the ship's movements against the backdrop of China's expanding influence in the Indian Ocean region and the freezing relations between India and the Maldives.
Xiangyanghong 03" scientific research ship data map.
According to Reuters, "Xiangyanghong 03" docked at the port of Male more than a month after leaving its home port in Xiamen, China. Prior to its arrival, the civilian vessel had spent more than three weeks surveying the waters outside the exclusive economic zones of India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Reuters previously mentioned that the "Xiangyanghong 03" is a scientific research ship rather than **, but India and other countries have been "worried" that such ships may use marine research for military purposes, and have repeatedly been dissatisfied with similar ships approaching their waters.
According to the Maldives Republic, the Maldivian side stressed last month that the Chinese ships would not conduct any research in its waters, but would only carry out "personnel rotation and material replenishment." Maldives*** also said that the Maldives "has always welcomed ships from friendly countries and continues to receive civilian and military vessels calling at its ports for peaceful purposes".
Qian Feng, a researcher at the Institute of National Strategy of Tsinghua University, said in an interview with the "Global Times" reporter on the 22nd that some Indian leaders and politicians always hype up China's scientific research ships for other purposes, which is a very absurd thing, reflecting the Indian side's crazy hostility to China's every move in recent years. Qian Feng said that since the beginning of this year, the relationship between China and the Maldives has developed smoothly, and India's intervention in the Maldives is itself a disrespect for the national sovereignty of the Maldives.
*: Global Times.
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