Beijing ‘never paid’ for aircraft carrier, report says

The Chinese businessman who bought an unfinished Soviet-era vessel that became his country’s first aircraft carrier was never paid back the $120 million it cost him by Beijing, he was quoted as saying Tuesday.

Entrepreneur Xu Zengping paid Ukraine a $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.

A former PLA basketball player, he 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.

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