"China is pouring enormous resources in an effort to emerge a a world-leading oceanographic power."

"[With mapping of this nature], you can use it for science, and you can use it for warfare."

Bruce Jones, naval affairs and foreign policy expert, Brookings Institution

 

"Dozens of Chinese research vessels are on a quest to map the sea floor at strategically vital regions of the world's oceans."

"Some of the surveying is for mineral deposits and fishing grounds, but the data the ships collect has a military application."

"It gives Beijing a detailed picture of the maritime environment in which submarine battles will be waged if conflict erupts, naval experts say."

Reuters 

 

"The scale of what they’re doing is about more than just resources."

"If you look at the sheer extent of it, it’s very clear that they intend to have an expeditionary blue-water naval capability that also is built around submarine operations."

Jennifer Parker, adjunct professor of defense and security, University of Western Australia; former Australian anti-submarine warfare officer 

 

"It is frankly astonishing to see the enormous scale of Chinese marine scientific research."

"For decades, the U.S. Navy could assume an asymmetric advantage in its knowledge of the ocean battlespace."

"[China’s efforts] threaten to erode that advantage. It is obviously deeply concerning."

Ryan Martinson, associate professor, Chinese maritime strategy, U.S. Naval War College   

The Dong Fang Hong 3 docked in Qingdao, Shandong province. The research ship, whose name translates to "The East is Red," spent 2024 and 2025 moving back and forth in the seas near Taiwan and Guam, and around strategic stretches of the Indian Ocean, ship-tracking data shows. Cnsphoto via REUTERS

 

An atlas of deep-sea mineral deposits was recently published by a research arm of the Chinese government, highlighting Beijing's aspirations to mine the ocean floor, while  underscoring its claims to waters disputed by its geographic neighbours. The maps as well as pinpointing mineral deposits on the ocean bottom, supply the Chinese military with a deep understanding of the seafloor in strategically vital waters. According to experts, this provides Beijing with a clear advantage, should submarine warfare ever break out.

 

Pressure has been placed on other countries ramping up similar efforts, in the wake of the China Geological Survey announcement. The need for other countries to engage in similar oceanographic mapping is critical to reducing dependence on China for critical minerals and rare earth elements which at present, Beijing controls to a great extent globally. It has been well proven that ocean sediments are richly endowed with valuable resources, among them cobalt, nickel and manganese.

 

The USS Minnesota in Western Australia in February 2025. China's mapping of the ocean floor has often focused on areas through which U.S. and allied submarines would need to move during a conflict. U.S. Navy/Lt. Corey Todd Jones/Handout via REUTERS

 

Historically, the United States dominated in ocean-science fields. China has been investing in changing that to its advantage; closing the gap, equipping its military with knowledge enabling it to fight underwater, fear Western experts. The recently published atlas, according to the China Geological Survey website, maps locations and concentrations of a myriad of resources, data amassed from two decades of research and samplings at over 10,000 locations.

 

The atlas included the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, where Beijing aggressively claims territory, despite that its neighbours have historically considered those territories to be theirs. With control of the majority of the world's key critical metals and rare earth resources essential in modern weapons and technologies, Beijing's dominance has its political dimension, as when it chose to restrict exports during disputes with both the United States and Japan.

 

For its part, Japan is developing its own seabed mining program, partially in a bid to reduce  reliance on Chinese supplies. The Japanese government in February announced that it had  retrieved mud rich in rare earths from depths of over 6,000 meters. International law customs determining national boundaries do exist.  However, occupying and managing a territory can serve the purpose of heavily supporting a nation's claim to owning it, simply by consistent presence.

 

And this appears to be China's modus operandi; to have a presence on disputed territory; land, sea or air. In the territorial waters of other countries, Chinese deep-sea exploration ships have made frequent appearances; including close to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska; as far from actual Chinese territory as can be imagined. Closer to home, China has tested seabed mining equipment in areas claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines.

 

Nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class Chinese ballistic missile submarines in the South China Sea in 2018. By mapping and monitoring the oceans, China is gathering critical data to deploy its submarines more effectively and hunt down those of its adversaries, naval-warfare experts say. REUTERS/Stringer