Yes I agree.
I think the question is less "why are there no 052Cs in NSF" than "why is liaoning in NSF" and it may be for a variety of reasons,including geography. It would be the safest out of the three fleets geographically after all. Best place for a fledging carrier crew to earn their stripes.
I expect the PLAN will be very flexible with their task force compositions (as we've seen for everything from long range training missions to Aden missions) so there's definitely no reason why they couldn't mix and match assets from the three fleets to form the liaonings CVBG in whatever incidence in future.
At the very least the PLANs surface combatant force int formidable enough to create permanent CSGs and escorts, nor would that be logical at this time and moment,
Well I think it is as much about politics as it is about possible safety concerns that the Liaoning went to the NSF. Of the three fleets, the NSF is the one least likely to cause undue concern among China's neighbours.
Putting the Liaoning in the SSF would alarm The Philipines and Vietnam and probably also India. Sending her to the ESF might scare Taiwan and risk damaging warming relations.
For the NSF, NK is always alarmed no matter what; SK won't feel too threatened and I think at this point Beijing would count alarming Japan as a plus, so its an easy decision to base the Liaoning with the NSF. The naming of her after the North Eastern Provence where the NSF is based was probably a very obvious give away about where the PLAN intended to base her.
Geographically, basing the Liaoning with the NSF also allows they to easily use the Yellow Sea, and especially the Bohai region for more sensitive training with the least risk of foreign subs snooping nearby.
But I also agree with you that the fleets are not rigid structures, and ultimately all three fall under the PLAN's central command, so it matters little which fleet the Liaoning is based with since the PLAN will pick and match their best assets to form her battlegroup when she is deployed on real missions.
For the moment, the 051Cs and 054A escort is more than adequate for a no risk training voyage.
It may well be that additional fleet elements from the ESF and SSF will meet up with the Liaoning after she has reached her intended operating area in the SSF, but the PLAN may not bother this time since the focus of the training would almost certainly be on flight ops rather than fleet maneuvers, so it really makes very little difference what her escorts consist of as it is little more than babysitting duties.
In that light, the 051Cs would make more sense since the PLAN would probably prefer to keep their 052Cs ready and available in case some emergency develops that might require their urgent deployment.
