Wan Buyan, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, is interviewed ahead of the second plenary meeting of the first session of the 14th NPC in Beijing, March 7, 2023. [Photo by Zou Hong/For chinadaily.com.cn]

A strong nation requires self-sufficiency in science and technology, and the Chinese people are fully capable of achieving this, said Wan Buyan, senior marine engineer from the Hunan University of Science and Technology and a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress.

Wan's team was behind the Hainiu II deep-water drilling rig system that operated at a depth of over 2,000 meters in the South China Sea. It set a new world record in deep-water drilling after digging 231 meters into the seabed in April 2021.

"For years, my team and I have upheld the belief that we should work hard in fields that are of major strategic importance to the nation," he said during a news briefing on the sidelines of the first session of the 14 NPC in Beijing.

Since 1999, Wan has focused on creating critical equipment used in deep-sea resource exploration from scratch.

"I have personally witnessed how China's deep-sea drilling technology went from nothing to now leading the world," he said, adding that the nation no longer needs to use foreign equipment to investigate resources buried beneath the seabed in China's coastal regions.

"My 30-year research career has proved two things: one is that core technologies cannot be bought, and a nation's prosperity requires relying on ourselves," he said.

The second thing is that the Chinese people have the will and wisdom to be successful and self-sufficient, he added.