Top China general Zhang Youxia accused of leaking nuclear secrets to US: WSJ report

BEIJING - China’s top general is suspected of passing secret information about the country’s nuclear weapons programme to the US, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which cited unidentified people familiar with a high-level briefing on the allegations.

General Zhang Youxia, 75, is also accused of accepting bribes for official acts, including the promotion of an officer to the post of defence minister, the newspaper reported on Jan 25. The briefing was held before

China’s Defence Ministry announced on Jan 24 that it was investigating Gen Zhang,

WSJ said.

The general is alleged to have leaked core technical data on China’s nuclear weapons to the US and is being probed for allegedly forming political cliques and abusing his authority on military decisions, according to the report, which goes beyond China’s announcement that it was investigating Gen Zhang, a Politburo member and one-time ally of President Xi Jinping.

Officials are scrutinising Gen Zhang’s oversight of a powerful agency responsible for the research, development and procurement of military hardware, the WSJ said, adding that he is alleged to have accepted significant sums of money in exchange for official promotions in the procurement system.

Gen Zhang could not be reached for comment, the newspaper said. The Chinese Embassy in Washington also did not respond to its questions, nor did the Defence Ministry respond to a request for comment.

General Liu Zhenli, a member of the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission (CMC), is also being investigated, according to the brief statement on Jan 24 that referred to “serious discipline and law violations”. 

The probes sent shockwaves through the highest echelons of military power in China, expanding the country’s widest purge of generals since Mao Zedong’s chaotic rule ended in 1976.

Gen Zhang’s downfall also marks the first time President Xi has probed a close ally. Both men’s fathers worked together in north-western China during the civil war.

Gen Zhang and Gen Liu are also two rare Chinese generals with battlefield experience from brief border fights with Vietnam in the late 1970s and 1980s, the last time China fought in a conflict. Gen Liu, 61, has been chief of the People’s Liberation Army’s Joint Staff Department, which oversees military operations, intelligence and training.

Mr Xi began his latest campaign to root out corruption in the armed forces in mid-2023, months after securing a precedent-defying third term. Since then, two vice-military chairs, three CMC members, a former defence minister, and at least a dozen senior generals who oversaw military commands have been ousted. BLOOMBERG