China defends docking of its submarine in Sri Lanka

BEIJING: China's defence ministry has defended its decision to dock submarines at the Colombo port on two recent occasions.

"There's nothing unusual for a naval vessel to dock at Colombo port despite concerns raised by India," a ministry official said. "It's an international common practice for navy submarine(s) to stop for refuelling and crew refreshment at an overseas port."

The official said the Chinese submarines had docked during their escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia.

Sri Lanka allowed a Chinese submarine to dock at its Colombo harbour on Sunday despite concerns raised by India about "China's warming relations with the Indian Ocean island nation", the defence ministry said. Another Chinese submarine had called at the same port ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to South Asia seven weeks ago, it said.

China's naval relationship with Sri Lanka has been growing rapidly in recently months. An amphibious landing ship, the Changbaishan, and a frigate, Yuncheng, of the 18th escort fleet of the Chinese Navy, sailed to the Colombo harbour in mid-August before leaving for a voyage in the Somali waters.

"This is nothing unusual," the Chinese defence ministry also quoted Sri Lankan navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya as saying. "Since 2010, 230 warships have called at Colombo port from various countries on goodwill visits and for refuelling and crew refreshment."

However, India has already raised concerns over the frequency of Chinese visits to Sri Lanka, it said quoting Indian officials.