Yuan Wang 5 Visit to Hambantota Port And China's Space Program.
The Chinese scientific research vessel “Yuan Wang 5″, will enter Hambantota port on August 11 for a week and it is expected to leave on August 17 after replenishment. The Yuan Wang 5 will conduct satellite control and research tracking of China’s satellites in the North Western part of the Indian Ocean region through August and September.
China’s Inspirational Space Program.
The Yuan Wang class ships hold very special respect in China as it features the success of China’s ambitious space program. The direction of Chinese leaders since 1950s led the unprecedented development of China, and simultaneously spread to many sectors, including space exploration. After decades of formalizing and building the China Space National Program, it reached new heights by 2003, and it astonished the world on April 29, 2021, when the “Tianhe” the 22-tonne core module of the Tiangong space station, was successfully launched into Low Earth orbit by a Long March 5B rocket, indicating the beginning of a new era to construct the Chinese Space Station.
Looking back since the early 2000s, China was keen to join the International Space Station as a member state and work with the other fifteen member states who are mostly from the developed world. However, China’s membership was rejected many times. Moreover, NASA prohibits all researchers from working with Chinese citizens affiliated with a Chinese state enterprise or entity, and also the 112th United States Congress in 2011 banned NASA from using its funds to host Chinese visitors at NASA facilities. In March 2013, the U.S. Congress passed legislation barring Chinese nationals from entering NASA facilities without a waiver from NASA.
The restrictions didn’t waver China’s ambition, and the China National Space Administration (CNSA) stated their long-term goals as to, improve their standing in the world of space science, establish a crewed space station, Crewed missions to the Moon, Establish a crewed lunar base, and a Robotic mission to Mars. The Yuan Wang Ship Class plays an essential role in making China’s space program a success.
The Yuan Wang Ship Class
Yuan Wang’s ship class has seven ships and dates back to 1965 which was proposed by China’s former Premier Zhou Enlai, and the idea was personally approved by China’s founding Chairman Mao Zedong in 1968. The Yuan Wang class 1, 2, 3, and 4 were collectively enrolled in the Shenzhou spacecraft launch which happed in19 November 1999. During the spacecraft mission, Yuan Wang 1 was positioned in the Yellow Sea, Yuan Wang 2 was positioned in the South Pacific Ocean near the overseas French islands of Polynesia, Yuan Wang 3 was positioned in Southern Africa in the Namibian cost, and the Yuan Wang 4 was off the coast of Western Australia towards the Indian Ocean and the operation was controlled by the Beijing Aerospace Command Control Centre. The Yuan Wang 7 vessel was used for the Shenzhou 11 and the Tiangong 2 Space laboratory manned space mission in 2016 and continues to use for maritime tracking. The two new vessels Yuan Wang 21 and Yuan Wang 22 are used for the Long March 5 program mainly as cargo vessels to transport the required cargo for the Space operation.
China’s Yuan Wang 5 is a third-generation space-tracking ship of China’s Yuan Wang series and it was sailing for different missions since 2007. The Yuan Wang 5, recently successfully completed a maritime monitoring mission for the launch of the Wentian laboratory cabin module of the Tiangong space station, which is the 1st lab module of the China Space Station. The ship has by far sailed safely over 580,000 nautical miles and completed 80+ tasks at sea.
The Yuan Wang 5 was also in operation for maritime tracking and measuring mission for the launch of the Long March-5B rocket in 2020 in the Pacific Ocean. During this mission, the crew had to work in more hostel formations and was not able to disembark at ports due to COVID restrictions. However, the vessel has operated at sea for 81 days and safely navigated for more than 20,000 nautical miles passing major ports in the international sea.
The Yuan Wang 5 Arrival to Hambantota Port.
Chinese ships arriving at Sri Lankan Ports date back to the 14th century when the Chinese Admiral Zheng HE visited Sri Lanka six times during its seven global voyages. The Chinese Admiral Zheng HE came to Sri Lanka in one of the biggest wooden floor vessels and according to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded with accompanied a fleet of over 300 ships sailing along with the main ships, and by far it’s the biggest shipping fleet to arrive in Sri Lankan waters. Since then all kinds of Chinese vessels have frequently visited Sri Lankan Ports.
At present, the development of the Maritime Silk Road gives an opportunity for Sri Lanka to attract the most modern vessels to their ports. Sri Lanka is also an active hub on the Silk Road after uplifting its new port infrastructure in past years. The island nation is a popular destination among sailors and other marine-related professionals, and thousands of ships call at Sri Lankan ports every year. Annually over 10,000 vassals enter Sri Lankan ports, which include hundreds of military vessels passing by from a variety of nations.
The Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka which was proposed in the 1970s is considered an important port and is the newest addition to the Sri Lankan coastline. Before its construction two feasibility studies were done on the port by Canada-based SNC-Lavalin which was financed by the Canadian International Development Agency in 2002, and the second feasibility study was commissioned by Ramboll in 2005, a Dinesh engineering consulting company, both of the studies gave similar positive conclusions for the port’s feasibility. However, in 2010 the port came into reality with a “Three Core Assistance” via the China Belt & Road Initiative which is funding, construction, and operation.
Since the joint venture with China Merchants Port Holdings, a globally recognized port operator with a network of 34 ports in 18 countries around the world, including terminals in Houston in the U.S and in the Port of Newcastle, which is Australia’s largest east coast port, the Hambantota Port has become a major RoRo hub between East and West, also recently the Hambantota Port invested in entering a new market of Marine bunkering. The Hambantota Port is a major Deepsea port fully equipped with modern operational machinery to accommodate a variety of over 40,000 vassals passing port annually in just a 15 nautical mile distance into the sea from Sri Lankan coastline.
The incoming Yuan Wang 5 which will enter Hambantota port on August 11 for a week is expected to leave on August 17 after replenishment. The vessel is an IMO: 9413054 registered Research/Survey Vessel which was built in 2007 and is sailing under the flag of China. Its carrying capacity is 11000 t DWT and her current draught is reported to be 8.2 meters. Her length overall (LOA) is 222 meters and her width is 25.2 meters.
Legal Prospects
The Indian Ocean does not belong to a particular state and it consists of over 35 nations that either border or are in the Indian Ocean which also includes serval European countries which administer several dependencies or overseas territories in the region. Ships are able to freely move in Indian Ocean and around half of the world’s container traffic, a third of its cargo bulk and 80% of maritime oil shipments pass through the international waters annually.
The United Nations Convention of Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the international legal instrument that establishes the framework for all marine and maritime activities with over ratified 167 member states. The UNCLOS is a globally respected legal tool that is an extension of the notion of ‘freedom of seas’ dating back to the 17th century, the notion interprets all waters beyond national boundaries as “International Waters” and highlights the principle of mare liberum by Hugo Grotius which interpret International Waters as “free for all nations, but belong to none of them” Most importantly UNCLOS PART III: Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea highlights rules applicable to all ships and the norm of “Innocent Passage” which allows vessels to pass through the territorial waters of another state by respecting underlined clauses in the Article. Under Article 19 of the UNCLOS III, it is defined as “Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State.” Such passage shall take place in conformity with this Convention and with other rules of international law.
So, as long as any vessel respects the international principle of ‘Innocent Passage’ they are free to pass through the ports. The incoming Yuan Wang 5 is clearly registered under IMO’s identification number and has gone through the formal international regulations before entering Sri Lankan territory seas. Moreover, China is not the only nation to operate similar vessels, the Monge (A601), which is owned by France, the INS Dhruv (A40) which is owned by India, and the U.S USNS Invincible (T-AGM-24) which is owned by the U.S. are also freely moving in international waters without any limitation.
Remarks: The Yuan Wang 5 visit should be welcomed by Sri Lanka as it can also build enthusiasm among the Sri Lankan youth to learn about modern space programs. China’s space program is developing at a rapid phase and its possible to predict that in the future Chinese Space Program to reach even greater levels, Sri Lanka as a developing nation can absorb a lot of opportunities and knowledge which could help build its own space program.
In 2005 Sri Lanka awarded the highest civil honours, Sri Lankabhmanya to the world-famous science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke who was ambitious to educate on space exploration in Sri Lanka, currently, Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies launched its first Sri Lankan satellite Raavana-1 as part of the Cygnus NG-11 mission to the International Space Station on 17 April 2019. Conclusively, the visit of Yuan Wang 5 to Hambantota Port is a stopover yet it can be an excellent opportunity for Sri Lanka and the regional developing nations to harness the knowledge that could help develop their own space programs.
