The Chinese businessman who bought an unfinished Soviet-era vessel that became his country's first aircraft carrier was quoted today as saying that Beijing never repaid the USD 120 million it cost him.
Entrepreneur Xu Zengping paid Ukraine a USD 20 million fee for the Varyag, which was eventually commissioned into the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy as the Liaoning. But the price ballooned once towing it to China -- a process that was delayed for years -- and other costs were included.
Xu also revealed that the ship was still fitted with its original engines at the time it was transported to China, contrary to reports.
Xu, a former PLA basketball player, was chosen to negotiate the acquisition, posing as a businessman who wanted to use it for a floating casino in Macau, and then giving it to the authorities.
But he told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper: "I still haven't received one fen (one hundredth of a yuan) from our government. I just handed it over to the navy."
After years of refurbishment the ship finally went into service in 2012, a symbolic milestone for China's increasingly muscular military.
According to the SCMP, China considered buying the carrier outright in 1992 but declined, largely in order to avoid raising tensions with the United States, given that memories of the Tiananmen Square crackdown three years earlier were still vivid.
Around four years later, Xu was approached by Chinese naval officials to do the deal. They cautioned that the navy lacked funding and that Beijing did not support the project, telling him he would effectively be betting on government policy changing.
The report also highlights the close connections between some wealthy magnates and China's military, at a time when Chinese investment overseas is subject to increasing scrutiny.
It said little about the source of Xu's wealth, describing him as "Hong Kong-based" with interests in property and tourism, and said he was motivated by a desire to boost China's military development.
