Taipei - Chinese scientists are defending the nation's high-tech exploration activities in the South China Sea against criticism, insisting the effort is a legitimate bid to advance science rather than a ploy to bolster China's claims to sovereignty over the contested waterway.
A deep-sea bathyscaphe and an underwater observation network developed by Chinese scientists will gather data on the world’s deepest seas for possible use in tapping minerals, said Lin Qi, assistant researcher with the state-run National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Hainan province.
"You could say to some extent that helps protect our sovereignty claim, but actually the goal of these projects’ designs is not mainly one to show the country’s claim," said Lin, whose institute falls under the central government’s purview.
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