A Chinese research vessel operated covertly in the Bay of Bengal for several days last month, sailing close to Indian waters without broadcasting its location raising fresh concerns about Beijing’s growing strategic presence in the region. The vessel, detected by French satellite intelligence firm Unseenlabs, was found operating around 120 nautical miles off India’s east coast – outside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) close enough to monitor naval operations and submarine activity. The ship had switched off its Automatic Identification System (AIS), a move commonly used to evade tracking. As reported by The Economic Times, Unseenlabs tracked the vessel during a 16-day survey using satellite-based radio frequency (RF) emissions. Of the 1,897 ships monitored during the period, nearly 9.6 per cent including the Chinese vessel were found operating without AIS signals.
