New Delhi: China is considering setting up a radar base in the jungles near Dondra Bay of Sri Lanka which will be able to monitor India’s strategic assets in south India, the activities of the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean Region and US military activities in Diego Garcia, reports the Economic Times. The radar could also keep an eye on the Kudankulam and Kalpakkam nuclear power plants.
Dondra Bay is located at the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka and is historically significant, as it was once the capital of the island nation.
The newspaper states that the Aerospace Information Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences could be involved in this project which will be detrimental to India’s strategic interests across the region. The radar could track movement of Indian Navy vessels travelling to Andaman and Nicobar Islands. There are also apprehensions that radar can monitor Kudankulam and Kalpakkam Nuclear Power Plants and refuelling in these facilities reports the newspaper.
India has been concerned about Chinese activities in Sri Lanka. Last year Chinese surveillance vessel Yuan Wang 5 docked at the Hambantota Port after the Sri Lankan government conceded to the Chinese request despite Indian warnings. Sri Lanka allowed the vessel to dock at Hambantota and remain for six days for refuelling and logistics supplies.
Unable to repay its debt, Sri Lanka gave China a controlling equity stake and a 99-year lease for Hambantota port, which it handed over in December 2017.
