Indian Navy Chief Admiral R. Hari Kumar has said that the movement of Chinese ships coming to the Maldives will be closely monitored.

In an interview to a leading daily news in India, Hari Kumar spoke at length about the interests of the region and said that though there was no conflict in the territorial waters of the region earlier, it seems that the interests are deteriorating in the recent past.

Responding to a question from the newspaper on the increasing number of Chinese ships in the Indian Ocean, Hari Kumar said, every country has the right to use the waters for various purposes, but it is also observed that Chinese vessels are more in the area and most of the sightings are being done by research vessels and fishing boats. We will also see what kind of research is being done.

When asked what he would say about the vessels travelling towards the Maldives, Hari Kumar said that in the past, there have been research efforts by Chinese vessels in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Hari Kumar's remarks came a day after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that a Chinese survey ship, Xiang Yang Hong 03, had started its journey to the Maldives. India alleged that it was a Chinese spy vessel, but Maldives shut down rumours stating the ship had obtained permission and no research work would be carried out if it arrived in the Maldives.

India, the US and some European countries have accused the Chinese ship of collecting information from such vessels and sharing it with the Chinese military.