China Shipbuilding Company Executive Being probed for Graft

An executive of China Shipbuilding Company which built China's first home made aircraft carrier and several other naval ships has been charged with graft and bribery.

The general manager and second-in-command of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Sun Bo is being probed for suspicion of serious breach of the party discipline and the law, Communist Party watchdog the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection was quoted as saying in a statement by France24 on Saturday.

It is unclear whether the investigation into Sun will have an impact on the new carrier's status.

China's first carrier, the Liaoning, is a second-hand Soviet ship built nearly 30 years ago and commissioned in 2012.

President Xi Jinping has pursued a highly-publicised anti-corruption drive since taking office in 2012, vowing to go after both senior "tigers" and low-level "flies".