Wang Dengping | |
|---|---|
王登平 | |
| DeputyPolitical Commissar of thePLA Navy | |
| Assumed office December 2014 Serving with Ding Haichun | |
| Political Commissar | Miao Hua |
| Preceded by | Wang Sentai |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 1952 (age 72) Feixi,Anhui, China |
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party |
| Alma mater | Tsinghua University Central Party School |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  China |
| Branch/service | People's Liberation Army Navy |
| Years of service | 1970−present |
| Rank |  Vice Admiral |
Wang Dengping (Chinese:王登平; born November 1952) is avice admiral (zhong jiang) of China'sPeople's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). He has been a DeputyPolitical Commissar of the PLAN since December 2014, and formerly served as Political Commissar of the PLAN'sNorth Sea Fleet andSouth Sea Fleet. He has been described as havinghawkish views regarding China's territorial disputes.
Wang Dengping was born inFeixi County in East China'sAnhui Province. He studiedradio electronics atTsinghua University in the 1970s,[1] and has a master's degree in political science from theCentral Party School of the Chinese Communist Party.[2][1]
Wang enlisted in thePeople's Liberation Army (PLA) in 1970, in the middle of theCultural Revolution, and served as a platoon leader before becoming a political officer. He spent part of his career in Beijing in thePLA General Political Department's Propaganda Department, first as deputy director of an unidentified bureau, and then as director.[2] For a time he served as the secretary of GeneralZhou Keyu.[1] Afterwards, he joined the navy as deputy political commissar of theNorth Sea Fleet's Qingdao Support Base.[2] He was promoted to the rank ofrear admiral in July 2002.[1]
In 2002, Wang embarked on a navy expedition that circumnavigated the globe. He worked closely with the commander of this expedition, Vice AdmiralDing Yiping. Wang later wrote an article describing the experience, entitled "The Chinese People's Navy's First Around-The-World Voyage."[2]
In 2003, Wang was promoted to political commissar of the Qingdao Support Base. From 2006 to 2009, Wang served as political commissar of the Navy Equipment Department. In 2009, Wang became political commissar of the North Sea Fleet.[2] He attained the rank ofvice admiral in July 2011.[1] In 2012, he was assigned to theSouth Sea Fleet, andBai Wenqi succeeded him as political commissar of the North Sea Fleet.[2]: 178 As a vice admiral, he was the highest ranking of the three fleet commissars.[2] Wang was a deputy to the11th National People's Congress (2008–2013).[1]
Wang accompanied then Director of the PLA General Political Department, GeneralLi Jinai, on two separate delegations: one to New Zealand and Chile in 2010, and one to North Korea in 2011. Additionally, he participated in a delegation to Sri Lanka and India in 2012, which was led by then Minister of Defense GeneralLiang Guanglie.[2]
In December 2014, Wang was appointed deputy political commissar of the PLA Navy.[1]
A 2012 article inGlobal People, a tabloid published by thePeople's Daily, quotes Chinese military academics as saying that the appointment of VADMJiang Weilie and VADM Wang to lead the South Sea Fleet indicated China's "firm resolve to safeguard its maritime rights and territorial integrity," and "can be viewed as a signal of more active Chinese responses toSouth China Sea issues." The article also quotes aPLA Academy of Military Science scholar as saying that both Jiang and Wang had expertise in the application of information technology to command and control, and that both possessed a "more hardline military position." Around the same time, the Hong Kong newspaperSouth China Morning Post described Wang as "famously hawkish."[2]
In 2009, Wang told China News, "We do care about the South [China] Sea issue. We cannot let the territory shrink in our hands. We cannot lose the 3-million-square-kilometer territorial waters while protecting them." That same year, he told Hong Kong media, "From a military perspective, [China's] sovereignty over its maritime territories cannot be taken away – not even a single inch of it. We must defend it. We cannot lose it." He was also quoted on several instances after the 2009 incident with theU.S. Navy shipImpeccable, asserting China's right to regulate military activities in its exclusive economic zone.[2]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theUnited States Government.