How a luxury Hong Kong home was used as cover in deal for China’s first aircraft carrier
Xu Zengping says HK$220 million purchase was aimed at convincing outside world of his financial capability
The high-profile purchase of an opulent home on The Peak in 1998 by a Hong Kong-based businessman was cover for the purchase of what would become China’s first aircraft carrier, the buyer has told the South China Morning Post.
Xu Zengping, 65, the People’s Liberation Army Navy proxy who bought the unfinished carrier from a Ukrainian shipyard, said the purchase of the HK$220 million (US$28.1 million) luxury home in 1998 was aimed at convincing the outside world that he had the financial capability to turn the 300-metre Varyag into a floating casino. It instead became China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was commissioned in 2012.
Explaining his reason for buying the 22,000 sq ft luxury villa for the first time to non-mainland media, Xu said he was responding to recent accusations circulated on social media that he had “embezzled carrier deal money” to buy it.
“Now everyone knows the floating casino is also a cover behind the stealth operation, and it’s not my personal behaviour, but for my country,” he said. “But in the very beginning, I needed to try every means to let the outside world believe the deal was just a pure personal investment.”
He said the United States and other Western countries had tried to interfere in the carrier deal by investigating his background.