Chinese General Suspected of Transferring Nuclear Secrets to the US

General Zhang Youxia. Photo: AP Photo / Ng Han Guan

According to the WSJ, citing its sources familiar with the closed-door briefing for senior officers, 75-year-old Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, who was considered one of Xi Jinping's most trusted associates, is now under investigation. He is accused not only of corruption but also of "forming political factions," which in Chinese Communist Party terminology means undermining the unity of power.

According to sources, the most shocking accusation, revealed during the closed-door briefing, concerns national security.

As the publication notes, the general is suspected of having handed over key technical data about China's nuclear weapons to the US. Some evidence against him, according to the WSJ, came from Gu Jun – the former head of the state-owned China National Nuclear Corp., which oversees both China's civilian and military nuclear programs. Jun also came under investigation this month.

During the briefing, as reported by the WSJ, authorities stated that Gu's case led investigators to uncover a security breach in the nuclear sector, to which Zhang is connected. The specific circumstances of the leak were not disclosed.

Beyond espionage, investigators have paid particular attention to Zhang's role in overseeing a powerful department responsible for the development, procurement, and production of military equipment. As the WSJ writes, the general is suspected of having turned this structure, with its gigantic budget, into a source of personal enrichment.

According to the publication, Zhang accepted significant sums in exchange for promoting officers within this lucrative procurement system. It was through such a scheme – for a large bribe – that former Defense Minister Li Shangfu also received his promotion; he was previously removed from his post and expelled from the party in a scandal over corruption.

A special team has been formed to investigate Zhang's case. It is currently working in Shenyang, where the general commanded a military district from 2007 to 2012. As the WSJ writes, investigators are deliberately staying in local hotels, rather than on military bases, to avoid the influence of the general's connections.

Mobile devices have already been confiscated from officers who were promoted alongside Zhang. Meanwhile, as the WSJ writes, thousands of servicemen connected to them could become the next targets of the investigation. Along with Zhang, 61-year-old General Liu Zhenli, Chief of the Joint Staff Department, has also come under investigation.

Consequences

According to a number of analysts cited by the WSJ, Xi Jinping's current anti-corruption campaign in the army is the largest since the era of Mao Zedong. Over the past 2.5 years, more than 50 high-ranking military officials and heads of defense enterprises have been investigated or dismissed.

WSJ sources emphasize Zhang's special status. Like Xi Jinping, he belongs to the caste of so-called "red princes" – descendants of the revolutionary elite. His father fought alongside Xi's father during the civil war, and both later held high positions in the party and state hierarchy.

That Xi decided to get rid of even such a close associate, according to experts, indicates "zero tolerance" for disloyalty and corruption. Analysts cited by the publication suggest this is a demonstration of Xi Jinping's absolute power over the military.

Analysts emphasize that the closed nature of the Chinese political system does not allow for a clear understanding of the true motives behind Zhang's removal. Internal explanations for the party elite, as the WSJ writes, do not always reflect the whole truth.

An editorial in the official PLA Daily newspaper accused the general of having "seriously undermined" the institutional foundations of the power of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Experts interpret this as a signal that Zhang had accumulated too much influence outside of Xi Jinping's personal control.

Such a "decapitation" of the army has serious consequences. As the publication notes, of the six professional military personnel who were members of the Central Military Commission in 2022, only one active officer remains — General Zhang Shengmin, a former political commissar and discipline inspector, not a combat commander.

According to experts interviewed by WSJ journalists, the weakening of the top command could reduce China's ability to conduct complex military operations in the near future. This could mean that the risk of an immediate invasion of Taiwan is decreasing, as Beijing attempts to put its house in order and, perhaps, prepares for complex negotiations with Washington on trade and security issues, including those surrounding Taiwan.

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