The Wall Street Journal: China’s top general accused of leaking nuclear secrets to the United States

The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy report highlighting Beijing’s investigation into senior Chinese general Zhang Youxia.

“China’s top general, Zhang Youxia, is accused of leaking sensitive technical and technical information related to China’s nuclear weapons program to the United States, accepting bribes in exchange for official work, including the promotion of an officer to the position of defense minister,” the WSJ reported.

China’s Defense Ministry issued a statement announcing the opening of an investigation into Gen. Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission and one of the most prominent military leaders close to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The statement contained few details other than an investigation into serious violations of party discipline and state laws.

Meanwhile, General Zhang Youxia is currently under investigation for forming political groups, a term that describes efforts to build networks of influence that undermine party unity and abuse his power within the Communist Party’s highest military decision-making body, known as the Central Military Commission.

Insiders reported that Zhang Youxia allegedly received large sums of money for official promotions in the massive procurement system.

The most shocking allegations revealed during the closed-door briefing were that Zhang Youxia leaked basic technical data about China’s nuclear weapons to the United States, the sources said.

Some of the evidence against Zhang Youxia came from Gu Jun, the former director general of China’s National Nuclear Corporation, a state-owned company that oversees all aspects of China’s civilian and military nuclear programs.

Beijing announced on Monday that it had opened an investigation into Gu on suspicion of serious violations of party rules and state laws.

During Saturday’s briefing, authorities revealed that the investigation of Gu linked Zhang to a security breach in China’s nuclear sector.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Liu Bingyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said the party’s decision to investigate Zhang confirms that the leadership is adopting a comprehensive approach that has zero tolerance for corruption.

“Xi’s recent crackdown on corruption and disloyalty in the armed forces represents the boldest dismantling of China’s military leadership since Mao Zedong’s era,” some analysts say.

According to the same source, Saturday’s internal briefing also linked Zhang’s downfall to his promotion to former Defense Minister Li Shangfu.

Sources claimed that Zhang helped promote Li in exchange for significant personal gains.

Li’s downfall began in 2023 when he disappeared from public view, was removed from his post as defense minister, and the following year was expelled by the party for corruption.

In a sign of the depth of the ongoing investigation, Xi Jinping has tasked a task force to conduct an in-depth investigation into Zhang’s five-year tenure in command of the Shenyang Military Region, which spanned five years from 2007 to 2012, according to some people familiar with the briefing.

They said the team had arrived in the northeastern city of Shenyang and had chosen to stay in local hotels rather than military bases, where Zhang has a support network loyal to him.

Authorities have already confiscated mobile devices from officers who had risen through the ranks with Zhang and General Liu Zhenli, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was also announced to be investigated on Saturday, while thousands of officers associated with the two men became potential targets, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Zhang, a member of the Politburo of the Party’s elite, is considered one of China’s princes, as he is known as the grandchildren of senior leaders of the revolution and senior party officials.

Zhang’s father fought alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping’s father during the Chinese Civil War that led to Mao’s communist forces seizing power in 1949, and both later rose to senior positions.

It’s worth noting that the Chinese authorities remain silent about these detailed allegations, while no official confirmation has yet been issued regarding the suspicion of nuclear espionage, which makes these accusations, for now, confined to what the WSJ published based on its sources.