Key points
- Lucia Fogler, a University of Virginia public policy and global security researcher, presents open-source mapping of China’s deep-sea mining contract areas and research vessel movements to assess risks to US defense posture in Oceania.
- Of 16 critical minerals the DoD and NATO have identified as key to defense manufacturing, China holds a mining, refining, or processing advantage in 14, even though all 16 are also found somewhere in the ocean.
- China holds five International Seabed Authority contracts through three state-linked firms, including Beijing Pioneer and China Minerals Corporation, with sites roughly 600 miles from Hawaii and under 400 miles from the Northern Mariana Islands.
- Fogler cites 2024 tracking of Chinese survey vessel Shiyan Hong 6 operating near both its ISA contract areas and undersea fiber-optic cables, alongside China’s deep-sea mining outreach to the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.
