GETTING CLOSER

Suspected Chinese Spy Ship Is Just a Research Vessel, South Africa Says

The Yuan Wang 5 made a controversial port call in Durban last month.

A Chinese ship believed to be used to track satellite and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches is really just a research vessel, South African authorities said, after the ship’s arrival in the country raised concerns that South Africa is growing closer to Chinese and Russian interests. The Yuan Wang 5, which is described by foreign security analysts as one of Beijing’s latest space-tracking ships, docked in the South African port of Durban on March 29. But South Africa’s Transnet National Ports Authority insisted to Bloomberg that the vessel is a research vehicle and not used for surveillance. The boat’s arrival came after South Africa, Russia, and China launched a joint naval exercise in February shortly before the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, sparking condemnation internationally and domestically in South Africa. Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis tweeted at the time that his city “will not be complicit in Russia’s evil war.”