Chinese research vessel spotted off India

A second Chinese research vessel in two months has been spotted near India's coast, adding to New Delhi's anxiety over possible military intelligence-gathering in its backyard. The two Asian superpowers have uneasy ties, with a military standoff on their Himalayan border since mid-2020 and a war fought between them in 1962. The Xiang Yang Hong 01 was seen off India's eastern coast over the weekend, according to an Indian security official, a geo-intelligence researcher and ship tracking information. It follows a similar ship's docking at a Maldivian port last month. Both are owned by units of China's natural resources ministry. Beijing says the vessels carry out ocean-bed surveys for peaceful scientific reasons only and dismisses any concerns as ungrounded fear-mongering. But Indian officials worry the vessels could also gather information that may be of use to China's military, including for submarine deployments.