China said to be trying to obtain Ceylon base

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32562, 23 March 1971, Page 5

China said to be trying to obtain Ceylon base

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright) WASHINGTON, March 22. United States intelligence sources say that China is trying to lease port facilities in Ceylon, which might give Peking a strategic toehold in the Indian Ocean. The Chinese want access to the port of Trincomalee to service naval and merchant ships, these sources say. Intelligence analysts expect that the Ceylonese Government will be receptive to the Chinese overtures, though believed favouring an arrangement that would limit port use to Chinese merchant craft. This report coincides with other intelligence information that the Chinese have converted a 12,000 ton cargo vessel into a missile-tracking ship. American officials interpret this as indicating that Peking may be approaching its longawaited first full range test of an inter-continental ballistic missile into the far reaches of the Indian Ocean.

They said that Trincomalee might be a base for the, missile range instrumentation ship which would gather data for Chinese scientists and technicians on the performance of their 1.C.8.M.s in tests.

Already concerned about Soviet penetration of the Indian Ocean, United States strategists now see the possibility of the other Communist super-power moving into an area once dominated by the Royal Navy but now without any major Western military presence. A Chinese naval base in Ceylon, just below the southern tip of India, might complicate defence problems not only for India but for Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Several of those nations already can be threatened by China from the landward side. American officials described Trincbmalee as an excellent harbour and say that it potentially is one of the best military complexes in the South-East Asia region. It was a major Royal Nava) fleet base until 1957, and now is used by Ceylon’s Navy. Russia’s Navy, which began cruising the Indian Ocean more or less regularly some three years ago, has concentrated chiefly in the western part where it might influence Moslem' and African nations. While China still is far be-

low naval parity with Russia or the United States, it is moving to strengthen and expand its sea forces. The Secretary of Defence (Mr Melvin Laird) told Congress last week that the Chinese Navy’s “main offensive

strength centres upon a growing force of more than 40 attack submarines and an increasing number of guided missile patrol boats.” Mr Laird also spoke of new Chinese guided-missile destroyers when he reported on what he said was a rapid modernisation of China’s convential forces.

On the nuclear side, Pentagon officials say that they still do not know for sure what booster the Chinese used to

send aloft their second earth " satellite earlier this month. But, with an earlier launch-' , ing last year, they regard this • feat as evidence of significant progress towards an inter-. ' continental ballistic missile that may be destined for aq ' Indian Ocean test. ,