China’s most senior general, Gen. Zhang Youxia, came under investigation on allegations that included leaking information about the country’s nuclear weapons programme to the United States and accepting bribes in exchange for official promotions, including the elevation of a former defence minister, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The allegations were outlined Saturday during a closed-door briefing attended by senior military officers, shortly before China’s Ministry of National Defense announced an investigation into Zhang, according to the Journal. The ministry said Zhang was suspected of serious violations of party discipline and state law, without providing details.
People familiar with the briefing told the Journal that Zhang was accused of forming political cliques and abusing his authority within the Central Military Commission, the Communist Party’s top military body. Authorities also scrutinised his oversight of a powerful military procurement agency, where he was alleged to have accepted large sums of money in exchange for promotions.
The most serious allegation, according to the Journal, was that Zhang leaked core technical data related to China’s nuclear weapons programme to the United States.
Some of the evidence against Zhang was said to stem from an investigation into Gu Jun, the former general manager of China National Nuclear Corp., a state-owned company overseeing civilian and military nuclear programmes. Beijing announced last week that Gu was under investigation for suspected violations of party discipline and state law.
In a statement, Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said the investigation demonstrated the Communist Party’s “full-coverage, zero-tolerance approach to combating corruption.”
