China has begun drilling a hole over 10,000 meters (32,808 feet) deep into the Earth's crust. Chinese President Xi Jinping named deep Earth sciences one of four strategic frontiers to explore. The drilling project, led by the country's largest oil producer China National Petroleum Corp., would be among the deepest ever drilled. In a 2021 speech addressing the nation's top scientists, Chinese President Xi Jinping named deep Earth sciences one of four strategic frontiers to explore. The deepest hole is still the Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia, which reached 12,262 meters (40,230 feet) in 1989 after 20 years of drilling.

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Persons: Xi Jinping, Wang Chunsheng Organizations: Service, Privacy, Scientists, China National Petroleum Corp, Xinhua, Chinese Academy of Engineering, Bloomberg Locations: China, Xinjiang, Xinhua, Russia