Beijing, June 12: China today named a new Navy commander and a political commissar for the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), just over a month after the worst Naval accident killed all 70 crew on board a conventional submarine. "The Central Military Commission has issued an order appointing Zhang Dingfa as commander of the Navy of the Chinese PLA, replacing Shi Yunsheng," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The Chinese government has so far not made public the exact reason for the submarine accident except saying that it was caused by a mechanical error.

Xinhua also reported that Hu Yanlin replaced Yang Huaiqing as the political commissar of the PLA Navy.

It is not yet clear whether Shi and Yang were sacked for the submarine accident which occurred sometime in May or late April.

The order was issued with the approval of the central committee of the Communist Party of China.

Defence sources had been speculating that a few senior heads among China's Army's senior officers are expected to roll following a detailed investigation into the submarine accident in the Bohai sea in east China.

The sources said after the sacking of two ministerial-ranked officials last month over mishandling of the SARS epidemic, a "culture of responsibility among cadres" had been quite firmly established in both civilian and military departments.

The Ming-class diesel-fuelled submarine 361 ran into trouble due to "mechanical problems."

Bureau Report