China’s New Drillship Takes National Security to Deep Sea

Chinese state media have hailed the country’s new homemade drilling ship, touted as the deepest drilling ship of its kind, as a win for Beijing’s national security designs maritime power. The vessel on December 26 completed its eight-day, 575-mile trial voyage, in the Pearl River Estuary south of the southern province of Guangdong. Under President Xi Jinping China’s “comprehensive national security” agenda now includes 16 “security arenas” that are “firmly embedded in political and public communication, education and scholarly discourse,” Berlin-based research institute Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) wrote in a 2022 report. The vessel boasts the world’s “largest…