A crew member of the Chinese marine research vessel Kexue, or Science, operates a remote-controlled vehicle in the western Pacific Ocean in December. [Photo/Xinhua]
China will launch a national program to push forward oceanic research in the Pacific and Indian oceans in the next 15 years, as part of the country’s ongoing efforts to protect its maritime interests and boost the sector.
The program, called the National Program on Global Change and Air-Sea Interaction, aims to enhance the country’s capacity to cope with marine natural disasters induced by climate change, including typhoons and tsunamis, according to the State Oceanic Administration.
“We need our scientists to go farther into the deep ocean to push forward our understanding of the two oceans that so deeply influence our country,” said Lei Bo, director of the administration’s science and technology department, at a work conference on Jan 8.
President Xi Jinping has called for an increase in the country’s capacity to protect its maritime interests, and a strengthening of marine science and technology research on several occasions.
The program will also push forward deep-sea exploration and research in an attempt to improve the country’s capacity to obtain resources from international waters.
Lei said the country will welcome the participation of scientists from other countries.
The program is divided into two special projects. One will look at the ocean variability and air-sea interaction of the Indian and Pacific oceans to improve the understanding of monsoons and typhoons. The second project focuses on the study of the marine geology of the two oceans.
Li Jiabiao, director of the Second Institute of Oceanography under the SOA, said that more than 10 ocean-bottom seismometers will be deployed in the western Pacific Ocean to further enhance deep-sea research capacities.
“We need new ways to observe and record the earth’s motion under the sea,” he said.
China’s growing emphasis on maritime development and improved research capacity has enabled the country to launch the research program, he said.
“Previously we could only join research programs led by other nations. Now we can launch our own research cooperation initiatives,” he said.
