Chinese spy ship Xiang Yang Hong 03 has reached India’s strategic backyard to map the Bay of Bengal next to the scheduled Indian Navy’s surface firing exercise.

After the Sri Lankan government denied docking permission, the vessel has been going to the Maldives to replenish fuel, food, water, and personnel rotation. At the beginning of 2024, the ship was scheduled to make a port call in Sri Lanka, but the island nation banned Chinese vessels from docking for a year.

Now, the role is being played by the Maldives, located at the crossroads of trade routes in the Indian Ocean, which has recently been fostering closer ties with Beijing.

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) has indicated that China’s ocean research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 03 is “currently moving into the Bay of Bengal, operating just 120 nautical miles from a scheduled Indian Naval Subsurface firing exercise in the region.

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OSINT expert Damien Symon’s assessment indicates that the ship, managed by China’s Third Institute of Oceanography, is just 380 nautical miles from Chennai in India.

While China maintains that its activities in India’s strategic waters are benign, India is wary of them, and rightly so. The strategic community believes that despite being managed by the Third Institute of Oceanography, the ship has links to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

China's ocean research vessel XIANG YANG HONG 03 is currently moving into the Bay of Bengal, operating just 120 nautical miles from a scheduled Indian Naval Sub Surface firing exercise in the region.

The presence of the vessel in the vicinity as the Indian Navy conducts sub-surface firing can yield dual-purpose data with clear military ramifications. The survey vessel can get data on seabed mapping, recording hydrological data to understand the profile of the undersea environment, subsea cable intelligence gathering, recording telemetry data of missile firings, and so on. The research that the vessel is conducting in the region would help it to undertake a military mission in the Indian Ocean.

While seismic data is critical in assessing geological conditions, the presence of hydrocarbons, water, and seabed conditions also affect the ability to detect submarines. Research vessels involved in scientific research can also use their instruments for naval reconnaissance, gathering intelligence on foreign military facilities and vessels operating in the vicinity.

Xiang Yang Hong 03 had left China in January 2024 and since has been conducting explorations in the region, while docking at Maldives. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin recently said that the Xiang Yang Hong 3’s mission was scientific ocean exploration.

“China’s scientific research activities in relevant waters are for peaceful purposes and aimed at contributing to humanity’s scientific understanding of the ocean. The activities are in strict compliance with the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Wang said on February 7 during the regular press briefing.

Exponential Growth Of Chinese Spy Ships

The exponential growth in the number of warships in the Chinese Navy has sent many big powers in the world into a tizzy. But the growing survey ship fleet also gives a peek into the PLA Navy’s future capabilities and plans.

Survey vessels are designed to examine subsea structures by sending sound waves into the ocean and collecting samples underwater. According to the International Maritime Organization’s database, 64 registered Chinese survey vessels were built in or after 1990, surpassing 44 in the US and 23 in Japan.

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The survey activities of ships flagged to other nations can usually be distinguished by the vessel’s operator. In the United States, for example, military surveys are done by the US Navy, marine scientific research is conducted by universities or civilian organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and commercial surveys are conducted by private companies.

However, there are no such distinctions among China’s state-owned fleet, making it impossible to confidently identify the purpose of most surveys. China’s civil-military convergence makes it likely that data obtained by Chinese survey vessels is shared among scientific, military, and commercial entities.

Think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies has said: “To survey the Earth’s oceans, China has developed the world’s largest fleet of civilian research vessels. While these ships support scientific and commercial objectives, they are also being used to advance Beijing’s strategic ambitions.”

Its report ‘Hidden Reach’ concluded after assessing the activities of Chinese survey vessels since 2020 that “Of the 64 active vessels, over 80 percent have demonstrated suspect behavior or possess organizational links suggesting their involvement in advancing Beijing’s geopolitical agenda.”

China’s surveying operations have been heavily concentrated along its maritime periphery in the South China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean. But it has also set its sights on the Indian Ocean, an emerging arena of competition between Beijing and New Delhi.

Suspicious Activities Of Chinese Research Vessels

The behavior of Chinese research vessels that raise suspicion are repeated instances of “spoofing” (providing falsified identification information) or “going dark” (turning off automatic identification system signals for extended periods). Data from Windward indicates the Chinese spy vessel resorts to these methods frequently especially near foreign military facilities.

Some Chinese survey ships have conducted survey operations within the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of other countries without prior permission, which is prohibited under international law. These activities have sparked diplomatic spats, including a 2019 confrontation between an Indian warship and a Chinese research vessel operating unauthorized in India’s EEZ.

Harvesting Ocean Data For Submarine Ops

Knowing the underwater domain is critical for Chinese submarine operations in the Indian Ocean. Chinese submarines could be called on to support a wide range of missions, ranging from intelligence collection to nuclear deterrence patrols. Expanding its submarine operations in the region would require overcoming certain geographical hurdles, foremost being the key chokepoints between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The US Department of Defense assesses that China has likely considered 18 countries as potential hosts for an additional overseas military facility. Of these, 11 ring the Indian Ocean.

Chinese survey vessels have become common in India’s sphere of influence. Reports indicate that the Chinese have been particularly interested in the Ninetyeast Ridge, a mid-ocean ridge on the Indian Ocean floor. The ridge divides the Indian Ocean into the West and East Indian Ocean.

Naval experts have contended that this range is important for submarine operations. The data will aid Chinese submarines in increasing their activity in the Indian Ocean.

In August 2019, the Chinese survey vessel Shi Yan 1 came 460 km east of the Indian island Port Blair in the Bay of Bengal and was forced to move out by the Indian Navy’s warships.

In December 2019, another of its survey vessels, Xiang Yang Hong 06, reportedly deployed at least 12 underwater gliders in the Indian Ocean. These long-endurance unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) traveled around 12,000 km at a depth of 6.5 km from the ocean surface to gather data on currents and water properties.

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