14844821Chinese signal gathering station on Great Coco IslandChina established an intelligence gathering station on Great Coco Island in 1992 to monitor Indian naval activity in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. According to GlobalSecurity construction of the Great Coco Island station began in late 1992 with the emplacement of a 45-50m antenna tower (?), radar sites and other electronic facilities forming a comprehensive signal-gathering (SIGINT) collection facility. In mid-1993, some of the 70 Chinese naval personnel began operating the new radar equipment, and by the summer of 1994 the the PLA the radar and SIGINT facilities were complete and ready for use.[2]
The station is also said to allow China to monitor the movement of other navies and ships throughout the eastern Indian Ocean, especially in the crucial point in shipping routes between the Bay of Bengal and the Strait of Malacca. It may also be used to monitor activities at the launch site of the Indian Space Research Organization at Sriharikota and the Defence Research and Development Organization at Chandipur-on-sea. [1]
[1] Andrew Selth, Burma’s Coco Islands: rumours and realities in the Indian Ocean (Working Paper Series No. 101, November 2008) at: http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/searc/Data/FileUpload/294/WP101_08_ASelth.pdf
[2] http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/china/coco.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Coco_Island93.371064614.1245328MyanmarAyeyarwadyLabutta14926314.125443214.123622493.372416593.3697128