China and US to Start Drilling in Disputed Area

The South China Morning Post reports that the first scientific ocean drilling expedition led and sponsored by China sails from Hong Kong tomorrow into disputed South China Sea areas. The expedition will drill as deep as 1,930 meters into the seabed, the fifth deepest such exploration in history.

The thirty-one geologists on board will drill at three locations during the 62-day international expedition aboard the American scientific drill ship Joides Resolution. The sampling will pave the way for mapping oil and natural gas fields. Most of the scientists on board are Chinese but there are nine from the US and one from Taiwan.

"Oil and gas fields lie close to the coast, but the key is to open the treasure box buried beneath the basin," said Wang Pinxian, a marine geologist and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Proposed by Chinese scientists in 2008, the trip marks the first sailing of the 2013-2023 International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), an international scientific research effort established by the United States in the 1960s. Many proposals have been received under the program, and the South China Sea venture did not win the most votes. However, it was chosen because the Chinese government is paying US$6 million, or 70 per cent, of the expedition's cost. China also submitted a proposal last year to examine the northern reaches of the South China Sea, the area so far identified with the richest oil and gas resources.

The ship will pass through and drill in regions claimed variously by China, the Philippines and Vietnam. Operated by the National Science Foundation, the ship has received permission from Manila and Beijing but is awaiting a response from Hanoi to drill at a site in the southwest of the South China Sea. The Philippines has sent an observer scientist to the expedition, whose findings and database will be shared worldwide, including with scientists from non-IODP member countries.