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2 Chinese spy ships seized off Andamans
2 Chinese spy ships seized off Andamans
30 November 2004: Two Chinese ships have been seized in and around the Andamans last week.
More than forty Chinese sailors with suspicious identities were carrying navigation equipment on board the ships.
They were also conducting a survey of the magnetic resonance of the seabed in the vicinity of the islands on which India plans to station a part of its strategic forces.
So far, the arrested sailors have said they are fishermen, who mistakenly entered into Indian territorial waters.
Officials said that the ships came from either the East China Sea or the South China Sea, a distance of more than two-thousand miles, which makes it not a case of casual, mistaken intrusion.
When informed about the seizures, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi buttoned up, and its officials refused to meet the arrested sailors.
Since some Taiwanese nationals were identified among the arrested, the Taiwanese diplomats were summoned, who promptly reached the island, confirmed their citizens, and exposed some of the Chinese with fake travel documents who were posing as Taiwanese.
While the intelligence agencies are investigating the spying, the government is keen to play down the incident.
Magnetic resonance of the seabed sheds light on its condition, its capacity to accept submarines, and the kind of weapons that can be used in case of hostility.
2 Chinese spy ships seized off Andamans
2 Chinese spy ships seized off Andamans
30 November 2004: Two Chinese ships have been seized in and around the Andamans last week.
More than forty Chinese sailors with suspicious identities were carrying navigation equipment on board the ships.
They were also conducting a survey of the magnetic resonance of the seabed in the vicinity of the islands on which India plans to station a part of its strategic forces.
So far, the arrested sailors have said they are fishermen, who mistakenly entered into Indian territorial waters.
Officials said that the ships came from either the East China Sea or the South China Sea, a distance of more than two-thousand miles, which makes it not a case of casual, mistaken intrusion.
When informed about the seizures, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi buttoned up, and its officials refused to meet the arrested sailors.
Since some Taiwanese nationals were identified among the arrested, the Taiwanese diplomats were summoned, who promptly reached the island, confirmed their citizens, and exposed some of the Chinese with fake travel documents who were posing as Taiwanese.
While the intelligence agencies are investigating the spying, the government is keen to play down the incident.
Magnetic resonance of the seabed sheds light on its condition, its capacity to accept submarines, and the kind of weapons that can be used in case of hostility.
Obviously, they are not doing this just to burn fuel!
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