Beijing is set to dominate the deep sea and its wealth of rare metals
Beijing aims to control the resources needed for next- generation tech
When the 5,100-ton Dayang Hao, one of China’s most advanced deepwater expedition vessels, left port south of Shanghai two months ago, a red-and-white banner — the kind used to blast Communist Party exhortations — reminded the crew of their mission: “Strive, explore, contribute.”
The Dayang Hao was bound for a 28,500-square-mile stretch of the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii where China has exclusive rights to prospect for lumpy, golfball-size rocks , millions of years old and worth trillions of dollars.
It is China’s latest contract, won in 2019, to explore for “polymetallic nodules,” which are rich in manganese, cobalt, nickel and copper — metals needed for everything from electric cars to advanced weapons systems. They lie temptingly on the ocean floor, just waiting to be hoovered up.
Whether working deep at sea or on land at the headquarters of the UN’s seabed regulator in Kingston, Beijing is striving to get a jump on the burgeoning industry of deepsea mining. China already holds five of the 30 exploration licenses that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has granted to date — the most of any country — in preparation for the start of deepsea mining as soon as 2025. When that happens, China will have exclusive rights to excavate 92,000 square miles of international seabed — about the size of the UK — or 17 percent of the total area currently licensed by the ISA.
The ocean floor is shaping up to be the world’s next theater of global resource competition — and China is set to dominate it. The sea is believed to hold several times what land does of these rare metals, which are critical for almost all of today’s electronics, clean-energy products and advanced computer chips. As countries race to cut greenhouse gas emissions, demand for these minerals is expected to skyrocket.
When deep-sea mining begins, China — which already controls 95 percent of the world’s supply of rare-earth metals and produces three-quarters of all lithium-ion batteries — will extend its chokehold over emerging industries like clean energy. Mining will give Beijing a potent new tool in its rivalry with the US. As a sign of how these resources could be weaponized, China in August started restricting exports of two metals that are key to US defense systems.
“If China can take the lead in seabed mining, it really has the lock on access to all the key minerals for the 21st-century green economy,” said Carla Freemana at the US Institute of Peace.
In the case of polymetallic nodules, that means sending robotic vehicles 18,000 feet to the vast, dark seafloor, where they will vacuum up about four inches of seabed, then pump it up to a ship.
The area marked for mining, though less than 1 percent of the total international seabed, would still be huge. The 30 exploration contracts cover 540,000 square miles but are concentrated in an expanse of the Pacific called the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Spanning 3,100 miles, it contains up to six times the cobalt and three times the nickel in land-based reserves.
In its quest to dominate this industry, China has focused its efforts on the ISA. By wielding influence at an organisation where it is the most powerful player — the US is not a member — Beijing has a chance to shape international rules to its advantage. This approach is key to Xi Jinping’s bid for global preeminence. Xi is set on transforming China into a global power, including by becoming a maritime power able to compete militarily with the US.
“If you want to become a global power, you have to maintain the security of your sea lanes and interests. So becoming a maritime power is inevitable,” said Zhu Feng, executive director of the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University.