US expert Brent Eastwood posted a post in the US media "1945" that China's aircraft carrier development cannot be separated from CIS countries. As the world's second largest aircraft carrier power, China spent 10 years to serve three aircraft carriers, among which the role of Liaoning is crucial. Liaoning's predecessor, Varyag aircraft carrier , is the Varyag purchased from Ukrainian . By purchasing such a large fleet aircraft carrier and design drawings, the Chinese can be familiar with the internal structure of a large aircraft carrier and learn how to build an aircraft carrier for the first time. Therefore, the subsequent launch of the Shandong and Fujian.
If China was not able to purchase the Varyag aircraft carrier at the time, the speed of China's development of aircraft carriers would never be as fast as it is today. However, when China purchased the Varyag aircraft carrier, it was carefully prepared to bypass the US blockade, and only spent $20 million to purchase a complete large aircraft carrier.
1985 at the Nikolayev shipyard in the Soviet Union, the Varyag aircraft carrier officially started construction. The aircraft carrier was first launched in 1988, but the aircraft carrier launched was just a roughly completed aircraft carrier shell, and the internal circuits and ship-based equipment were not installed. However, the collapse of , the Soviet Union, disrupted the construction progress of the Varyag aircraft carrier. Since the Nikolayev shipyard, which built the aircraft carrier, belonged to the independent Ukraine, and Ukraine naturally did not have the ability to independently build a large aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier could only be parked in the shipyard with rust. Ukraine had no choice but to consider selling the aircraft carrier.
China was eyeing this aircraft carrier at this moment. China once carefully planned a trick involving aircraft carriers and entertainment cities. They asked a private company boss to buy an old Soviet aircraft carrier. The boss told Ukrainian that he bought the aircraft carrier to transform it into a maritime entertainment city, but everything changed when the aircraft carrier arrived in China. China actually bought it in a complicated way. China hopes to keep the purchase confidential to avoid tensions with Western countries and obstructions from the United States. U.S. experts said that the Chinese military found a businessman named Xu Zengping , and they shared the plan with Xu Zengping. He wants to act like an entrepreneur and want to buy this used aircraft carrier. The Chinese Navy will eventually take over the ship and build it into China's first aircraft carrier . Perhaps this carefully designed plan will succeed, as China has done something similar, buying an old Kiev-class aircraft carrier from the Soviet era and turning it into an electronic gaming hall and hotel entertainment center.
Xu Zengping was very interested in this plan. Seeing that his country's navy needed an aircraft carrier, he borrowed US$30 million from a friend and established a fake company based in Macau. After everything was ready, he went to Ukraine alone in 1998 and reached a deal with Ukraine. He spent only US$20 million to buy the 65,000-ton ship, which was a huge cheap. Of course, the most difficult problem is not to purchase an aircraft carrier, but how to safely tow the aircraft carrier back. After all, Nikolayev shipyard is inside the Black Sea . It is necessary to pass through the Black Sea, Mediterranean , Strait of Gibraltar , Africa, and the Indian Ocean. It also needs to consider the obstruction of Western countries such as the United States. In fact, during the purchase of aircraft carriers, the United States intends to destroy China's purchase of aircraft carriers.
Xu Zengping carefully planned and arranged a Dutch ship to tow away the aircraft carrier and pulled away all the design drawings of the aircraft carrier. However, when passing through the Bosphorus, the United States specifically asked Turkey to block it. Turkey refused to release the aircraft carrier on the grounds that the ship would get stuck in the Bosphorus. Finally, the aircraft carrier was successfully driven out of the Black Sea because the Chinese government came forward to assist in the solution. After passing the Suez Canal, the Varyag aircraft carrier was refused to pass again, so he could only dock from the Strait of Gibraltar, and then detour the African coast through the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea , and arrived all the way to China.The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy eventually transformed the Varyag aircraft carrier into a normally operating aircraft carrier, becoming the Navy's first aircraft carrier. China obtained a complete aircraft carrier at a very low cost of only US$20 million, which will be of great help to China's subsequent development of the aircraft carrier fleet.
I have to say that when American experts reported this, they basically focused on some key issues on "Spring and Autumn Writing", giving the outside world an illusion, as if China secretly used a merchant to purchase an aircraft carrier, fearing that it would stimulate the West. In fact, after the end of the Cold War, , taking advantage of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, these Western countries were eyeing China. According to the report of the US media "Military Observation", in order to prevent the modernization of the Chinese military and the rise of the Chinese army, the United States secretly blocked China's attempt to acquire the Tu160 bomber , let alone the aircraft carrier. Therefore, when purchasing the aircraft carrier, in order to avoid unreasonable interference from the United States, the procurement plan failed, so it had to hide its sight and be called commercial use.
Besides, even if you buy it and change your purpose and serve as an aircraft carrier, it is understandable, because the aircraft carrier is bought by Chinese people and the ownership is Chinese. Americans are not qualified to make any mistakes or make mistakes. And more importantly, the decision to purchase an aircraft carrier was made by Xu Zengping personally. Before purchasing the aircraft carrier, Xu Zengping was the boss of a Hong Kong company. He was worth a lot of money. It was not fabricated by US experts. The Chinese Navy found Xu Zengping and asked him to purchase the aircraft carrier, and Xu Zengping borrowed US$30 million for buying the aircraft carrier.
Moreover, more than 20 years have passed, and recently it was brought up by American experts again. It can be seen that US experts are still resentful about China's purchase of aircraft carriers, and are even more complaining about why the United States did not stop it. This also shows from another perspective that my country's introduction of aircraft carriers from Ukraine was indeed "foresighted".
