A senior figure at the very top of China’s military has been abruptly removed amid allegations he passed highly sensitive nuclear information to the United States.
Zhang Youxia, long regarded as the operational leader of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), was dismissed on Saturday for a “serious violation of discipline.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, the 75-year-old general is accused of sharing classified details relating to China’s nuclear weapons programme with Washington.
The allegations were reportedly laid out during a closed-door briefing attended by senior PLA officers.
The meeting took place only hours before Beijing publicly confirmed that Zhang was under formal investigation.
Officials at the briefing are said to have accused Zhang not only of leaking state secrets, but also of accepting bribes in exchange for promoting a senior officer to the defence minister.
He was further alleged to have formed “political cliques” within the military, a charge that often signals concerns over loyalty rather than corruption alone.
Evidence presented at the meeting was reportedly supplied by Gu Jun, a former executive at China National Nuclear Corporation, which oversees both civilian and military nuclear programmes.
Gu himself is under investigation as part of a sweeping corruption probe targeting China’s defence and nuclear sectors.
Officials told the briefing that the inquiry into Gu had uncovered a major security breach inside the nuclear establishment, to which Zhang was allegedly connected.
Zhang’s downfall is particularly striking given his status within the PLA.
Hellbound and Down 