Who will be commander?
However, a more heated discussion now is focused on who will be the commander of China's first aircraft carrier, with Li Xiaoyan and Bo Yaoping leading the candidates.
Born in 1961 in Changchun, Jilin Province, Li Xiaoyan is an experienced, well-known navy, army, and air force commander.
He studied in the "pilot and warship captain program" at Guangzhou Naval Academy in 1987 and served in the South Sea Fleet in 1991 after graduation.
In 1995, Li was appointed captain of a frigate. He later attended Russia's Kuznetsov Naval Academy for advanced commanding studies. Four years later, he became the captain of the missile destroyer "Shenzhen," which is equipped with ship-borne helicopters and possesses comprehensive combat capabilities including air defense and anti-submarine duties.
In 2000, Li led a naval fleet to Africa, traversing the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean for the first time.
Meanwhile, Bai Yaoping, vice president of the Dalian Naval School, has also been widely seen as a top candidate for the post.
Bai, 49, was also among the ten most outstanding pilots picked for training in the first and only "pilot and warship captain program" together with Li.
Bai became the youngest pilot of supersonic aircrafts when he was 21 years old and at 24, he was already an excellent fighter pilot and meteorological pilot, flying four models between more than 10 airports across China. By 1987, Bai had flown over 600 hours.
After graduation from the Guangzhou Naval Academy, Bai joined the East Sea Fleet and later was appointed the commander of a missile frigate.
In a naval exercise in 1995, both ship-to-air missiles from Bai's ship successfully hit the targets, setting a record in China. Bai was highly praised by the leaders of the Central Military Commission.
As a talented commander who can "fly planes and operate warships," Bai was also voted one of the "Ten Outstanding Young People" in China.
Who is qualified?
Though discussions on the future carrier commander are mostly guesswork now, the speculations are not baseless.
Examples from foreign countries show that a qualified commander should be an excellent pilot, a well-trained ship captain, as well as an experienced military officer at the same time, the Global Times analyzed.
Since the primary mission of an aircraft carrier is to deploy and recover aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase, a pilot-born commander is a must. In America, only an officer who has taken-off and landed aircraft from the carrier over 800 times and flown for over 3,000 hours is qualified to be the commander.
Operating such a huge warship, the commander must be knowledgeable in various fields including navigation, air defense, anti-submarine tactics and even management. Commanders of Britain's "Invincible" aircraft carrier were picked out of the captains of its destroyers and frigates.
A commander should also be a senior colonel or a major captain who has served in the army for at least 20 years so that he can conduct effective communication with the top leaders.
