I do recall this incident, however I didn't think it was very news worthy at the time. That said linking the two didn't occur to me before, that is interesting.Stories about EW battle between US and China came out as early as morning of 12/21 in China (still 12/20 in the US).
The earliest report about Carl Vinson EW commander being fired that I found is dated 12/23 in the US, nearly 3 days after the EW contest stories.
The article below claims weather radar in Xiamen went crazy on 12/12 due to the EW contest between China and US.
I recall at the time I also thought it was pretty baseless rumour because the Y-8 that was supposedly involved was ELINT varient so not EW dedicated. The trouble with linking the two is also this guy is explicitly in charge of EA-18G while the other event supposedly involved EP-3E.