According to Japan Economic News’ report on February 11, the investigation team formed by China, Japan, Europe, the United States and other countries drilled the seabed in the central South Pacific, and took mud samples from seabed of 4,000-6,000 meters. 

 

Under analysis, it was believed that there is a wide distribution of granular manganese, cobalt, tungsten and other rare metals under the waters. However, the concentration of rare metals in the seabed mud layer is not high. Some experts say it is not suitable for commercial exploitation.

 

According to Japanese media, on the first working day after the Spring Festival, the Chinese coast guard fleet 2501 cruised in the territorial waters of Diaoyu Island, one of which was equipped with weapon looks like a machine cannon. On the same day, some Japanese news media said China united Japan, Europe, the United States and other countries formed a team in the waters near the Diaoyu Island, or to be precise, circling in the South Pacific waters.

 

As we all know, Diaoyu Island has been China's inherent territory since ancient times. For China, this is not only a beautiful island with the name "flower bird island", but it also has immeasurable value of military strategy value and significant economic value. For Japan, Diaoyu Island is a strategic route that it must take to enter the Taiwan Strait and go south to Southeastern Asia and the South Pacific. Therefore, it is inevitable that Diaoyu Island has always been a territorial dispute. It can also be attributed to other countries coveting China’s tiny territory which is full of abundant oil and fishery resources. 

 

In addition, there are issues that the so-called territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Island between China and Japan is essentially an "ideological dispute", and the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Island. The fact is China has territorial sovereignty over the Diaoyu Island. Taking this as a starting point, we can almost figure out how to answer any question the outside world may raise about Diaoyu Island, so as to understand the whole thing and ultimately stand on the side of safeguarding China's sovereignty.

 

But what did the team do in the Pacific Ocean, where the Diaoyu Island lies? According to Japan Economic News, China, Japan, Europe, and the United States have formed an investigation team for the integrated ocean drilling project (IODP). The team recently drilled the bottom of the central South Pacific Ocean and took samples of mud at depths of 4,000 to 6,000 meters. They found that one cubic centimeter of mud in the deep seabed contains 100 million to 1 billion particles, including manganese particles with a diameter of about 4 microns. This finding will help to make clear the formation of the mineral resources in the seafloor. In addition, the team's experts said the particles contained rare metals such as cobalt, nickel, tungsten, molybdenum and lithium. In other words, the granular rare metals are widely distributed on the seafloor in the central South Pacific.

 

Image of fleet

 

Manganese, Cobalt, Tungsten Found in South Pacific - 2