Legal dispute saps finances of man behind China's first aircraft carrier

One dispute has dogged Xu Zengping for two decades and, says Xu, indirectly affected his efforts to raise money for the carrier deal.

It involves a legal tussle with the Guizhou provincial government over the ownership of the Guizhou Park Hotel, a four-star development in the provincial capital of Guiyang .

"It is a typical case of how some local authorities and greedy officials try to swallow foreign shareholders' profit through joint-venture projects," Xu said, adding that if his money had not been tied up in the hotel, he would have had more resources to devote to the carrier project.

In 1986, Hong Kong-based Hon Shan Holdings, which Xu co-founded, was invited by then Guizhou party chief Hu Jintao and governor Wang Zhaowen to get the unfinished hotel back on track, according to the hotel's website and legal documents from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Development, which later became part of the Ministry of Commerce.

Hon Shan invested US$1.65 million for a one-third share of the project, while the provincial-owned Guizhou Tourism Investment Company contributed US$3.35 million for the remainder. Xu's company also obtained a US$5 million loan from Standard Chartered Bank to develop the hotel.

The ministry approved the deal in 1987 and the hotel opened for business in 1989.