2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference | China's Marine Governance Achievements Are Fruitful, AI Drives the Construction of a Maritime Power

(Source: Beijing Business Today)

From the azure sky to the deep blue sea, blue is the main color of humanity’s “cradle of life.” In the face of complex challenges in global ocean governance and ecological civilization construction, strengthening ocean governance through technological innovation and promoting international cooperation has become an inevitable choice for the future of humanity.

On March 26, at the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference, during the Marine Science and Development Forum themed “Driving Global Ocean Governance through Technological Innovation and Building a Community with a Shared Future for the Oceans,” participants comprehensively reviewed the achievements of China’s marine science and technology and governance, focusing on how new technologies such as artificial intelligence empower marine governance practices, and jointly planned global collaborative governance solutions.

Currently, the United Nations’ “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development” initiative is being implemented in depth, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction has officially taken effect, and global ocean governance has entered a crucial period of rule reconstruction and deepened cooperation, with AI becoming the core engine for solving complex ocean issues and enhancing governance efficiency.

China’s marine science and technology have achieved significant results.

In November 2012, the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China first proposed the national strategy to build a maritime power. For more than a decade, China has continuously strengthened the top-level design of marine science and technology, promoted the coordinated development of basic research, technological breakthroughs, and engineering applications, steadily increased the scale of the marine economy, and achieved a series of important results in ecological governance and scientific exploration.

At this forum, Qiu Yong, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, systematically introduced China’s achievements in marine science and technology and governance. Qiu Yong stated that China has always insisted on promoting the development of marine science and technology through open cooperation, accelerating the cultivation of new productive forces in the marine sector, and promoting the deep integration of marine science and technology innovation with industrial innovation, using technological innovation to support the sustainable use of marine resources and ecological environmental protection. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s marine science and technology innovation system has been continuously improved, supporting the marine economy to reach a new level of 10.5 trillion yuan by 2024.

Qiu Yong mentioned that China has made fruitful achievements in deep-sea exploration, polar scientific research, ecological protection, and other fields, including the completion of the world’s largest deep-sea drilling ship “Dream,” and the commissioning of the world’s first 100,000-ton offshore oil platform “Deep Sea No. 1.” At the same time, China is deeply involved in global marine science and technology governance, launching international science and technology cooperation initiatives and becoming one of the first signatories and contracting parties to the BBNJ under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

As an international center for technological innovation, Beijing’s achievements in marine science and technology and governance are prominent. Although it is not coastal, it has always been at the forefront of China’s marine science and technology research and development. Beijing Business Today reporters learned on-site that Beijing fully utilizes its advantages of concentrated higher education institutions and innovation resources, achieving continuous breakthroughs in marine observation, equipment development, ecological protection, and basic research, forming a nationally leading highland of marine science and technology innovation.

Kong Gangcheng, Deputy Secretary-General of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, introduced that by 2025, Beijing will achieve multiple new breakthroughs in marine carbon cycling, water monitoring, and deep-sea exploration: Tsinghua University has realized precise dynamic monitoring of global million lakes, Peking University has made significant progress in research on the impact of climate change and marine sediment, and a small deep-sea robot developed by Beihang University has successfully achieved a 10,000-meter deep-sea cruise. At the same time, Beijing actively cultivates emerging marine industries, strengthens the dissemination of cultural knowledge, and enhances international marine cooperation.

AI is a key driving force for building a maritime power.

The achievement of these significant results is closely related to innovation in marine science and technology. In fact, under the wave of global scientific research paradigm transformation, a new generation of information technology is accelerating its deep integration with marine science.

From the perspective of practical application, China has widely applied artificial intelligence technology in numerous scenarios such as marine meteorology, environmental monitoring, ecological simulation, and equipment control, forming a complete technical system from nearshore to deep sea, and from observation to application, providing core support for new productive forces in the marine sector.

Lan Yujie, Deputy Director of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, stated that the key to building a maritime power lies in marine science and technology innovation. By strengthening the construction of marine infrastructure, we can transform observation data into knowledge, knowledge into systems, and ultimately transform systems into marine governance capabilities.

Lan Yujie further pointed out that China has made remarkable achievements in the field of marine basic research. The first major research program of the national coastal zone complex system science fund has been launched, the first manned deep dive in polar density ice areas has been conducted, the world’s largest abyssal biological database has been established, and efforts are being led to promote international cooperation in deep-sea drilling, continuously enhancing the original innovation capability of marine science and technology.

At the meeting, Duan Huiling, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the School of Engineering at Peking University, believed that from mechanization and automation to intelligence, artificial intelligence has brought significant changes to talent cultivation and scientific research paradigms. Artificial intelligence endows marine new productive forces and is a key driving force for promoting the construction of a maritime power.

“Marine equipment must achieve intelligence, and digital twins are the core approach to the intelligence of marine equipment. Utilizing marine big data to achieve digital twins through real-time mapping of physical entities and virtual models can realize virtual-to-real, virtual control of real, virtual prediction of real, virtual optimization, and the coexistence of virtual and real, which has been applied in scenarios such as deep-sea mining and cross-medium vehicles.” Duan Huiling stated.

Experts at the meeting unanimously pointed out that AI technology effectively addresses the pain points of a complex marine environment, high monitoring difficulty, and high governance costs, with its role increasingly prominent in scenarios such as red tide warnings, ecological restoration, resource exploration, and disaster emergencies, pushing marine governance into a new stage of intelligence.

Connecting global governance with local action.

The connectivity and global nature of the oceans dictate that marine science and governance must follow the path of open cooperation and mutual benefit.

Participants agreed that the ocean is an important space for sustainable development of humanity, and technological innovation is the key support for enhancing global marine cognition, strengthening marine ecological protection, and promoting blue economic development. We should further address major global governance needs in the ocean, deepen marine basic research and key technological breakthroughs, promote multi-level, multi-field, and multi-entity international cooperation, actively practice the United Nations’ “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development” initiative, and jointly contribute wisdom and strength to build a more inclusive, open, and sustainable marine future.

Regarding global ocean governance, Jiao Nianzhi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief scientist of the International Ocean Negative Emission Program (ONCE), suggested accelerating the formulation of international standards for ocean negative emissions, promoting the establishment of a special working group by ISO, and creating globally recognized technical specifications and accounting systems to allow ocean carbon sinks to enter the global carbon trading market, supporting global climate governance and marine ecological protection with scientific solutions.

In the view of Professor Cao Ling from Xiamen University, global ocean governance is entering a new stage of implementation. The current challenges are no longer limited to known or consensus content; the real challenge lies in how to translate this vision into action.

How to better balance the relationship between protection and sustainable use? How to align domestic policy frameworks with BBNJ obligations? How to strengthen information sharing, capacity building, and cooperation? “This requires better connection of global governance with local action, combining protection with sustainable use, and aligning policy vision with actual execution,” Cao Ling said.

2026 is the starting year of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, and it is also a critical period for the comprehensive promotion of the United Nations’ “Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.” Qiu Yong emphasized that moving forward, China will focus on the technological needs of global ocean governance, insist on leading high-quality development of the marine economy through technological innovation, and promote marine science and technology innovation through higher-level technological openness and cooperation.

Specific measures include: strengthening forward-looking layout, coordinating the advancement of marine basic research, major engineering construction, and key core technological breakthroughs. Strengthening strategic scientific and technological capabilities and innovation platform construction, continuously enhancing the original innovation capacity and independent innovation level of marine science and technology; promoting collaborative synergy, integrating resources across departments, regions, and fields. Coordinating the development of education, science and technology, and talent, smoothing the channels for results transformation, and accelerating the transformation, application, and industrialization of marine science and technology achievements; deepening open cooperation, expanding international marine science and technology exchanges and joint research. Promoting global sharing of innovative resources, deeply participating in global ocean governance, and contributing more technological strength and Chinese power to address global common challenges and enhance marine welfare.

Beijing Business Today reporter Liao Meng

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