The Liaoning, the first Chinese aircraft carrier, was surrounded and monitored by U.S. and Japanese warships while sailing in the East China Sea, and some military experts described the incident as “unusual” and a major mistake by the Communist Party. It has been two years since the retirement of Song Xue, the former deputy chief of staff of the Navy and a key figure in the Liaoning, and the official website of the National People’s Congress announced at the end of the month that Song had been terminated as a deputy and held criminally responsible. In an interview with Yao Cheng, a close friend of Song Xue’s, the authorities want to take advantage of Song Xue’s questionable naval strength.
The Liaoning aircraft carrier fleet of the Chinese Communist Navy has recently encountered a U.S. destroyer at sea, raising questions about the combat capability of the Chinese aircraft carrier. According to several media reports, the fact that the Liaoning was besieged by U.S. and Japanese warships reflects serious problems with the carrier’s combat capability, which was purchased from Ukraine, and the authorities are pursuing those responsible, one of whom is Song Xue, the former deputy chief of naval staff.
Yao Cheng, a former lieutenant colonel on the Chinese naval command now living in the United States, had a relationship with Song in the naval command. He told the station on Monday that it was expected that Song would be held accountable, which shows that the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China is not satisfied with the performance of the Liaoning.
Yao Cheng: Spending so much money and taking so long to get two carriers that can’t fight. The main thing is that when the Liaoning carrier group sailed south from the north, it was washed up by American and Japanese warships, which made it lose face in the international arena. The first thing is that Xi Jinping has been dissatisfied with the naval equipment.
The Liaoning has a congenital flaw in its construction
Yao Cheng said that He Pengfei, the former vice commander of the Navy, led the purchase of the Varyag aircraft carrier from Ukraine and converted it into the Liaoning at great expense. After He’s death in March 2001, his secretary, Song Xue, was promoted and was in charge of the Liaoning’s reconstruction project and flight training for the Liaoning’s carrier aircraft.
Yao Cheng: There were many people in the Navy who disagreed with the purchase of this carrier at the time. The Varyag carrier aircraft carrier sliding takeoff belongs to the elimination type. The U.S. aircraft carriers are building electronic ejection systems, you can’t fight a war with a sliding takeoff, the facts prove that the Chinese Communist Navy’s decision was wrong.
Liaoning flight training had caused many casualties
Song Xue has made several public appearances to promote the construction and development of the CCP’s aircraft carriers to the public. This includes the fact that the aircraft carrier formation will be an independent army, directly under the command of the CCP Navy, etc. Yao Cheng said that for a long period of time, Song Xue was responsible for the refitting of the Liaoning and the training of its carrier pilots, but that flight training caused many casualties.
Yao Cheng: After He Pengfei arrived in the Navy, he was transferred from the General Staff Equipment Department. He was not in the Navy before. In fact, the Central Military Commission (CMC) is not satisfied with the naval equipment, take Song Xue to open the knife. You say corruption, which one of the officials of the Navy corrupt, the equipment department is corrupt. If he leaks state secrets, he will first find me, it is impossible to find others, he trusts me too much. We deal mainly with the working relationship. He is not bad, Shandong people, quite loyal.
The government also believes that the authorities cannot find other suitable candidates to hold the Liaoning aircraft carrier responsible.
The only way to get the job done is to take him. He was involved in the Liaoning from start to finish, including flight training and induction.
The Twitter account “OSINT-1” posted satellite images on April 26 that showed the Liaoning sailing in the East China Sea surrounded by not only U.S. and Japanese warships, but also a U.S. destroyer interspersed with the Liaoning’s main group of ships. Military experts were almost unanimous in their opinion that the incident was unusual. They even described the U.S. warships as “humiliating” and the Chinese ships as completely helpless to protect the aircraft carrier.
The Chinese military also acknowledged the fact that the U.S. destroyer kept observing the Chinese fleet at close range during the Liaoning fleet’s “normal training activities,” which “seriously interfered with the Chinese side’s training activities and seriously threatened the safety of navigation and personnel on both sides,” said Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, at a press conference on 29 June. The nature is very bad”.
The official website of the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China released on the same day, the 13th National People’s Congress elected by the Communist military, the former deputy chief of staff of the Navy Song Xue, due to suspected serious disciplinary violations. The Navy held a military congress on April 8 decided to remove Song Xue from his position as a deputy to the National People’s Congress. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the National People’s Congress, Song Xue’s representative qualification is terminated.
The Beijing Youth Daily WeChat public number “political knowledge” then said that the above news disclosed two layers of meaning, one, Song Xue is no longer the Navy Deputy Chief of Staff, the second, Song Xue suspected of serious disciplinary violations.
The public information shows that Song Xue is 63 years old, originated from Shandong, and was promoted to Rear Admiral in July 2010; before serving as the Navy’s Deputy Chief of Staff, he was the Vice Minister of the Navy Equipment Department.
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