Last year researchers found two rotting shipwrecks some 1,500 metres down and 20km apart. China hopes these discoveries will enhance its dubious territorial claims
Officials in Beijing say the wrecks “confirm historical facts that Chinese ancestors developed, used and travelled to and from the South China Sea”. That may not sound like a geopolitical statement, but such claims are the soft side of China’s push to control nearly the entire body of water. Larger than the Mediterranean, the sea is still a crucial trade route and home to valuable fish stocks and energy reserves. Seven countries have claims to part of it.
There is plenty for salvagers to find in the South China Sea. A portion of it, near the Spratly Islands, is called Dangerous Ground due to its poorly charted rocks, reefs and shoals. Dreams of sunken riches have lured commercial treasure-hunters. One called Mike Hatcher, a Briton, led an expedition in 1985 that found the wreck of the, an 18th-century Dutch East India Company ship that was carrying Chinese porcelain and gold.
Today China dominates the wreck-finding business. Near the Paracel Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam, Chinese researchers have found at least ten wrecks—proof, they say, that China had “continuously managed” the area for centuries. Conveniently, the Chinese seem to find only their own wrecks in waters they claim. They don’t collaborate with foreign archaeologists and are intolerant of other expeditions.
China’s advances in underwater archaeology have been impressive. In 2007 it lifted an 800-year-old ship called the out of the sea and into a custom-made saltwater tank on land. The research submarine that discovered the Ming-era wrecks, called the, holds three people and can withstand the pressure at depths of up to 4,500 metres. It has two robotic arms that can pick up delicate artefacts, as well as a cluster of cameras that allow researchers to create digital models of wrecks.
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