In step three, to be achieved by 2040, China would possess a blue-water navy centered around aircraft carriers.

Liu encouraged technological innovation within China that would increase naval capabilities, but he also advocated large foreign purchases.

[4] He was also the top commander of the troops enforcing martial law to suppress the Tiananmen Square protests on 3–4 June 1989.

Liu remained active through the mid-1990s and appeared in uniform at 2007 commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army in Beijing.

[8] His daughter Liu Chaoying, a former lieutenant colonel in the PLA, was a major figure in the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy.