Li Shangfu

Li Shangfu ( Chinese  李尚福 , Pinyin Lĭ Shàngfú , born February 1958 in Chengdu ) is a Chinese aerospace engineer and general of the People's Liberation Army . Since August 2017 he has been head of the weapons development department of the Central Military Commission and commander of the manned space program of the People's Republic of China .

Youth and Studies

Li Shangfu was born in February 1958 in Chengdu , the capital of Sichuan Province . His father was Li Shaozhu (李绍 珠, 1911–1995), a high-ranking officer of the People's Liberation Army , who took part in the Long March in 1934/35, took part in the Korean War with the People's Volunteer Army in 1953 and from 1954 initially as chief of staff, later as commander of the 5th Division of the railroad troops of the People's Liberation Army (中国人民解放军 铁道兵, a pioneer unit) played an important role in building China's infrastructure. In 1978, Li Shangfu enrolled at the National Defense Science and Technology University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Changsha for aerospace engineering and joined the People's Liberation Army, although it was not mandatory for students at the time. In 1982 he completed his studies with an engineering degree.

Lunar program

After graduating, Li Shangfu was assigned to Unit 63790, based on the 27th Base of the Chinese People's Liberation Army for Testing and Training, better known as the Xichang Cosmodrome , where he initially worked as a technician. But then he began to continue his education and studied as a postgraduate (研究生) at the Institute for Automation Technology at Chongqing University (重庆 大学 自动化 学院). Li Shangfu rose in the hierarchy and witnessed the serious accident on February 15, 1996 on the cosmodrome , when a Changzheng 3B launcher crashed onto a mountain slope due to an error in its inertial navigation system and 6 people were killed in the resulting explosion 57 were injured, some seriously. In December 2003, Li Shangfu was appointed commander of the Xichang Cosmodrome and in July 2006 he was promoted to major general. At the same time acted as commander of the cosmodrome system (发射场 系统 总指挥) of the lunar program of the People's Republic of China and was in this capacity responsible for the launch of the lunar probes Chang'e-1 on October 24, 2007 and Chang'e-2 on October 1, 2010 Both missions were successful, and in September 2013 Li Shangfu was transferred to Beijing as chief of staff at what was then the main witness office of the People's Liberation Army .

At the end of 2014, Li Shangfu was promoted to deputy head of the main witness office. A year later, the main witness office was dissolved as part of the far-reaching reform of national defense and the military , and the “Department for Weapons Development”, which was structured differently, was set up in its place at the Central Military Commission . Responsibility for space activities now largely went to the Strategic Combat Support Force of the People's Republic of China, which was newly established on January 1, 2016 . As a trained aerospace engineer, Li Shangfu was transferred to the new armed forces, where he took over the post of deputy commander and at the same time acted as chief of staff. His area of ​​responsibility was again the supervision of the lunar program, where he now held the post of Deputy Commander (探 月 工程 副 总指挥).

Arms Development Department

In August 2016, Li Shangfu was promoted to lieutenant general. A year later, in August 2017, he was appointed head of the weapons development department of the Central Military Commission. He was thus also the commander of the manned space program of the People's Republic of China . Two months later, on October 24th, 2017, he was elected to the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party at the 19th Congress of the CCP . The weapons development department not only develops systems such as the aircraft carrier 001 or the modular space station itself , but also buys weapons from abroad, for example ten Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter aircraft in 2017 and components for the Russian surface-to-air missile in 2018 -System S-400 Triumf for combating combat aircraft and cruise missiles as well as short and medium-range ballistic missiles. As a result, the United States Department of State imposed sanctions on both the Weapons Development Department and Li Shangfu personally in September 2018 under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act . The sanctions prohibit the Weapons Development Department from doing financial transactions in the United States - which it doesn't anyway - and prohibit Americans from doing business with the Department. While American scientists are involved in projects of the China National Space Administration , which is responsible for unmanned space travel , such as the exploration of the heliopause , the USA has excluded itself from participating in Chinese manned space missions and, above all, from the modular space station.

On July 31, 2019, Li Shangfu was named four-star general by Xi Jinping , chairman of the Central Military Commission, at a solemn ceremony in the VBA building in Beijing .

Web links

• Website of the Institute of Automation Technology at Chongqing University (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 周 再 奔: 李尚福 任 战略 支援部队 副 司令员 兼 参谋长 其父 为 兴国 老 红军. In: jiangxi.jxnews.com.cn. March 3, 2016, Retrieved December 25, 2019 (Chinese). 
2. ^ Zhao Lei: PLA says chief of its arms wing replaced. In: chinadaily.com.cn. September 19, 2017, accessed December 25, 2019 . 
3. ↑ 刘潇翰: 重庆 大学 召开 传达 学习 贯彻 党 的 十九 大 精神 大会. In: moe.gov.cn. October 30, 2017, Retrieved December 25, 2019 (Chinese). 
4. ↑ “航天 专家” 履新 中央军委 要职 这 人 经历 异乎寻常. In: people.cctv.com. September 19, 2017, Retrieved December 26, 2019 (Chinese). 
5. ↑ 马 咪咪: 七大 军区 岗位 调动 超 30 人 史鲁泽 直升 北京 军区 参谋长. In: hebei.ifeng.com. January 8, 2015, accessed December 25, 2019 (Chinese). 
6. ↑ 王 哿 、 钟煜豪: 原 总装备部 副 部长 李尚福 任 战略 支援部队 副 司令员 兼 参谋长. In: thepaper.cn. February 29, 2016, Retrieved December 26, 2019 (Chinese). 
7. ↑ 王俊: 战略 支援部队 副 司令员 兼 参谋长 李尚福 晋升 中将 军衔. In: thepaper.cn. August 30, 2016, Retrieved December 26, 2019 (Chinese). 
8. ^ Zhao Lei: PLA says chief of its arms wing replaced. In: chinadaily.com.cn. September 19, 2017, accessed December 25, 2019 . 
9. ↑ 个人 简介. In: cmse.gov.cn. Retrieved December 26, 2019 (Chinese). 
10. ^ Yamei: List of members of the 19th CPC Central Committee. In: xinhuanet.com. October 24, 2017, accessed December 26, 2019 . 
11. ^ Lesley Wroughton, Patricia Zengerle: US sanctions China for buying Russian fighter jets, missiles. In: reuters.com. September 20, 2018, accessed December 26, 2019 . 
12. ↑ 张伟 et al .: 中国 海军 空军 司令 等 10 位 军官 晋升 上将 军衔. In: mil.news.sina.com.cn. July 31, 2019, accessed December 26, 2019 (Chinese). 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Li is the family name here, Shangfu is the first name.