China View: Is Deep-Sea Scoping Key To Green Tech Transition?
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Over the past three decades, China has become increasingly interested and invested in expanding its deep-sea exploration, scoping, and mining capabilities. In November of 2024, President Xi Jinping announced that China’s first domestically produced deep-ocean drilling vessel completed a successful sea trial and was put into active service. With the rising demand for greener energy and the finite supply of valuable minerals and metals, some nations and corporations are turning to deep-sea mining as a promising solution. Through deep-sea mining, necessary minerals such as cobalt, manganese, nickel, and copper can be extracted from the ocean floor. This can help increase the supply of available materials used in the construction of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and batteries.
Supporters of deep-sea mining argue that obtaining these minerals from the ocean floor will help accelerate the transition to greener technologies and cleaner sources of energy. Opponents argue that there may be unforeseen consequences to expanding efforts to mine in the sea such as its effect on marine ecosystems, wildlife, and biodiversity. China has developed into a large producer of green technologies such as solar panels and electric vehicles which utilize many of these minerals and metals. Due to this focus on clean energy, the government has invested heavily in the development of marine exploration technologies. How will this investment impact China’s renewable energy transition?
China first began investigating sea-bed mineral resources at the end of the 1970s. During the 1980s, the underwater vessels Xiangyanghong 16 and Xiangyanghong 9 completed comprehensive seabed surveys in the north and north-west part of the Pacific Ocean. During the Xiangyanghong 16’s expeditions in 1983, minerals were found in the northern Pacific 5,000 meters below the surface. In the 1990s and 2000s, the country began to focus on designing mining systems and developing prototype vessels capable of exploring and extracting minerals from the ocean floor. During this time the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) was established to oversee the extraction of mineral resources, enhance the advancement of technology for deep sea-bed mining, and “contribute to mankind’s development and utilization of international sea-bed resources”.
In 1999, COMRA submitted a new proposal for a deep-sea manned vehicle and the agency was put in charge of the development of the Jiaolong submersible which began construction in 2002. This vessel successfully completed its final sea trial and was put into active service in 2012. China’s 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005) also emphasized an increased focus on deep-sea exploration by establishing a comprehensive strategy to expand undersea operations. This strategy focused on “deep-sea carriage technology, resource investigation technology, resource exploitation technology and resource processing technology”.
China’s interest in seabed mining continued to accelerate under President Xi Jinping, who intensified government investment in the sector to increase the country’s maritime power. Xi Jinping has advocated expanding the field and has stressed the strategic and economic importance of the deep-sea bed. In the early 2000s, developing maritime resources became important to national security and was funded under the 863 Program, which supports research and development of technologies with military applications. The government has continued investing heavily in deep-sea submersibles and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), which are both necessary for deep-sea exploration as well as resource discovery and extraction. Exploration of the deep-sea bed was also included in China’s 2015 National Security Law. “The legislation groups it with other ‘strategic frontier’ issues by tasking the state to ‘preserve the security of our nation’s activities and assets in outer space, seabed areas and polar regions’”.
“To get at these deep-sea mineral treasures, it is necessary to master key technologies in deep-sea access, deep-sea exploration, and deep-sea development.” - President Xi Jinping
China’s economic and development plans require an ample supply of natural resources and deep-sea mining has the potential to provide a sizable amount. The country currently relies on importing critical minerals and metals from countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The government views these seabed resources as means to enhance the country’s “role in mineral supply chains and production”, which would help meet the growing demand for these resources. Investment in the research and deployment of deep-sea mining technologies are also useful for military applications. For example, deep-sea exploration can provide critical information advantages in undersea and anti-submarine warfare. Many deep-sea mining technologies can also be repurposed for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. The 12th (2011-2015) and 13th (2016-2020) Five-Year Plans further prioritized deep-sea development, exploration, and research.
In 2016, a law was adopted to standardize and incentivize Chinese contractors’ activities concerning the exploration and extraction of deep seabed resources. The Deep-Sea Mining Law outlined regulations dictating how Chinese companies and organizations could obtain permission to mine. This law also aimed to “boost deep-sea scientific and technological research and protect the ocean by regulating resource-exploration activities under the country’s sponsorship”. Additionally, the government’s investment in the field has pushed local companies to expand their deep-sea exploration activities. As a result, Chinese companies who have dominated the mining and processing of critical minerals on land are now investing in the ocean too.
Currently, two Chinese state-owned corporations, China Minmetals and Beijing Pioneer Hi-Tech Development Corporation, are preparing to test deep-sea mining equipment in the Pacific Ocean in 2025. In 2024, the Kaituo 2 deep-sea mining vehicle completed sea trials at depths exceeding 4,000 meters and has garnered acclaim for its capabilities. “The vehicle's explorations set six records in the field of deep-sea mining in China, with technological performance reaching the leading domestic and advanced international levels”. The vehicle also demonstrated powerful underwater rock drilling and collection capabilities. In the same year, Xi Jinping announced that the first domestically designed and built deep-ocean drilling vessel, the Mengxiang, was commissioned. These recent advancements exemplify the country’s progress in strengthening its marine sectors and showcases the country’s development and technological capacity.
Expanding deep-sea mining activities has the potential to provide another source of high demand metals and minerals needed to produce greener and more sustainable technologies. China has become a leader in refining minerals such as lithium and cobalt, with an estimated share of global supply reaching 72% and 68% in 2022. The country’s ability to refine and utilize these raw materials has helped boost its domestic production, which contributed to “more than half of the electric vehicles sold worldwide in 2023, has 60% of the global manufacturing capacity for wind turbines, and controls at least 80% of each stage in the solar panel supply chain”. Continued expansion in deep-sea mining would aid in fueling the country’s economic and manufacturing goals. However, there is uncertainty associated with deep-sea mining and the unknown effects it may have on marine environments.
