India well-equipped to handle challenges: Union minister on Colombo allowing Chinese ship to dock | India News

NEW DELHI: Union shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday said India is well-equipped to handle any kind of challenges that may arise in the wake of Sri Lanka allowing a high-tech Chinese ‘spy’ ship to dock in its waters.
His statement comes a day after Colombo granted port access to a Chinese military ship to anchor at the Hambantota port from August 16 till 22 for “replenishment purposes”, despite India’s concerns over the presence of the vessel in the neighbourhood.

“We are well-equipped and well-prepared to handle any kind of situation effectively under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That is clear,” Sonowal said. The minister was responding to a question from reporters here.
Sri Lanka’s port access permission to the Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship, ‘Yuan Wang 5’, came days after Colombo asked Beijing to defer the portcall amid India’s concern. The Chinese research ship was earlier scheduled to arrive on Thursday and remain at the port until August 17.

The southern deep-sea port of Hambantota is considered strategically important for its location. The port has been developed largely with Chinese loans.

War games with Pakistan?
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Navy on Sunday rejected as “fallacious” media reports that it will hold war games with a Pakistani warship docked at the Colombo port but confirmed that it will hold a “Passage Exercise” in the western seas with Pakistan’s newly-commissioned Chinese-built frigate PNS Taimur.
Sri Lanka allowed PNS Taimur to make a port call in Colombo while on its way to join the Pakistan Navy fleet after the Bangladesh government denied it permission to dock at Chattogram Port.

PNS Taimur is the second of four powerful Type 054A/P frigates built by China. It was delivered to the Pakistan Navy in Shanghai on June 23. The first ship in the Type 054A/P-class, the PNS Tughril, joined the Pakistan Navy Fleet in January. Two more frigates of the same class are currently under construction in China.
Developing port infrastructure: Sonowal
To another query regarding Indian cargo ships depending on Colombo port, which acts as a transshipment hub in the Eastern coast, Sonowal said: “The Ministry is very much committed to developing a transshipment hub on the Indian coasts. We have declared it earlier also.”
Chennai Port Trust chairman Sunil Paliwal intervened to say, India already responded strongly on the issue relating to the Chinese ship and cautioned that “security situation of a country should not be discussed like this.”
On the development of infrastructure at ports across the country, the minister said: “We have already started to develop our infrastructure in Paradip, Vishakapatnam and also in Chennai port. We are also planning to develop infrastructure in Tuticorin port.”
Sonowal said his ministry has planned to set up a new fishing harbour in Paradip port, Vishakapatnam and also Chennai port ‘within a short span of time’.
“We have already sanctioned Rs 99 crore to Chennai (Port Trust) for the fishing harbour,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)