By Wu Qiaoxi | 2025-03-19

Beijing has launched the construction of a new deep-sea research facility in the South China Sea in a move that demonstrates China's rapid expansion in global marine exploration and underscore its regional strategic ambitions.

Construction on the cold seep ecosystem research installation, led by the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, began on February 28 in Nansha, Guangzhou province, the Global Times, a Chinese national newspaper, reported.

The station is scheduled for completion by 2030.

Designed to sit at 2,000 meters below sea level, the facility will be capable of accommodating up to six scientists for up to one month as they conduct research.

They will mainly explore the extreme conditions of cold seeps -- areas on the ocean floor where hydrocarbon-rich fluids seep out from cracks or fissures -- and study the area's vast reserves of combustible ice (methane hydrates).

Cold seeps release methane, hydrogen sulfide and hydrocarbons from the seabed, supporting unique ecosystems sustaining life under extreme conditions.

A new frontier

Deep-sea research is gaining global attention.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Proteus Ocean Group announced in May 2023 they were developing the world's first "underwater space station," Proteus, near Curaçao in the Caribbean.

However, with a depth of only 20 meters, Proteus is far shallower and smaller than China's ambitious project.

Global Times reported that China's underwater space station will establish a permanent cold seep monitoring system on the seabed.

The system will integrate a "four-dimensional" monitoring network, combining underwater unmanned submarines, surface vessels and underwater observation stations.

So far, more than 900 underwater cold seeps have been found worldwide, including six in the South China Sea.

Cold seep ecosystems have drawn considerable international scientific interest.

For example, the US-based ECOGIG marine research alliance focuses on cold seep ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean Fjord and the Gulf of California.

Meanwhile, the International Ocean Discovery Program, involving 21 countries, is conducting deep biosphere and methane hydrate research in cold seep environments.

'Strategic significance'

However, China's deep-sea station project extends beyond scientific research and resource development.

The Global Times explicitly described the project as having "strategic significance." By advancing deep-sea manned technology, China aims to deploy various deep-sea stations.

In addition to supporting the development of subsea oil, gas and mineral resources such as iron and manganese nodules, the technology is linked to protecting China's "rights and interests" in the South China Sea.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea and has brushed off competing claims by other countries, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Given the ongoing territorial disputes in the region, China's increasingly assertive stance has raised concerns.

In the name of scientific research, China is using these deep-sea facilities to strengthen its geopolitical presence further and secure its control over deep-sea resources in the region, some observers suspect.