WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The long-running term of Adm. Wu Shengli as commander of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) seems to be ending with his retirement, according to a report in a non-China-owned Hong Kong daily newspaper.
A large and growing number of new and modern ships has joined the fleet, including sophisticated missile destroyers and frigates, several classes of conventionally and nuclear-powered submarines, modern amphibious assault ships, and highly capable supply ships. The latter have been a key asset in China\u2019s first effort to sustain long-term, out-of-area operations, dispatching a series of task forces beginning in August 2008 on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden. The ships have routinely ranged even further afield, operating around Africa, in the Mediterranean and Black seas, up to the Baltic Sea, and in the Americas, including visits to Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rising power of the PLAN is underpinning China\u2019s island-building campaigns in the South China Sea and elsewhere, bolstering Chinese territorial claims and\u00a0\u2014\u00a0in China\u2019s view\u00a0\u2014\u00a0safeguarding the “Maritime Silk Road” of commerce throughout western Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A US source said Wu\u2019s retirement had been expected, although the timing was not known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wu, according to the translation of the Ming Pao article, will retain his membership in the Central Military Commission until his full retirement from the Navy in the fall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The long-running term of Adm. Wu Shengli as commander of China\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army Navy seems to be ending with his retirement, according to a report in a non-China-owned Hong Kong daily newspaper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":115642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":37,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[45,37,11,16],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1026],"class_list":["post-58386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-breaking-news","category-global","category-naval"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"WUVHKAF52ZAZVJZVGE6KKKSCD4","arc_canonical_url":"\/breaking-news\/2017\/01\/13\/source-chinese-navy-has-new-commander\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n