Who is Zhang Youxia? China’s top general, Xi’s closest military ally accused of ‘giving nuclear secrets to US'

China recently overhauled its military, drawing special focus on its top military general, General Zhang Youxia, who was the highest military member just below President Xi Jinping.

Youxia was placed under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law," according to the major announcement made by China's CCTV over the weekend.

China's defense ministry said Saturday that authorities were investigating Zhang and Gen. Liu Zhenli, a lower member of the commission who was in charge of the military’s Joint Staff Department, the Associated Press reported.

“Xi Jinping has completed one of the biggest purges of China’s military leadership in the history of the People’s Republic,” Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, was quoted by AP as saying.

The move shakes up virtually the entire commission, chaired by Xi, leaving only one of its six members intact.

The editorial published in the army newspaper on Sunday alleged that Zhang and Liu “seriously betrayed the trust and expectations” of the Communist party and the CMC, and “fostered political and corruption problems that undermined the party’s absolute leadership over the military and threatened the party’s ruling foundation”.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying that Zhang was accused of leaking information about the country’s nuclear weapons programme to the US.

The WSJ report further claimed that Zhang accepted bribes for official acts, including the promotion of an officer to defence minister.

Mint was unable to verify the authenticity of the report.

Meanwhile, analysts told Reuters that purges are designed to reform the military and ensure loyalty to Xi.

They have been part of a broader anti-corruption drive that has resulted in punishment for more than 200,000 officials since the Chinese leader came to power in 2012.

The military was one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by Xi in 2012. That drive reached the upper echelons of the PLA in 2023 when the elite Rocket Force was targeted.

According to several reports, such as the Guardian and Reuters, Zhang is the joint vice-chairperson of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), the ruling body of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Zhang is also a member of the elite Politburo of the ruling Communist Party and is one of just a few leading officers with combat experience.

His removal is the second of a sitting general on the Central Military Commission since the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.

Both Xi Jinping and Zhang are reportedly from the northwestern province of Shaanxi and are the children of former senior officials who fought together in the 1940s civil war.

A Pentagon profile of Zhang in late 2023 noted that Zhang had been expected to retire in 2022, aged 72, given usual military practice.

"However, Zhang's retention on the CMC for a third term probably reflects Xi's desire to keep a close and experienced ally as his top military adviser," the profile said, contained within the Pentagon's annual report on China's military that year.

Zhang fought in a brief but bloody border war in 1979 that China launched in punishment for Vietnam invading Cambodia the previous year and ousting the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge.

He was 26 when he was sent to the front lines to fight the Vietnamese and was quickly promoted, according to state media.

Zhang also fought in another border clash with Vietnam in 1984 as the conflict rumbled on.

"During the battle, whether attacking or defending, Zhang Youxia performed excellently," the official China Youth Daily wrote in a 2017 piece entitled, "These Chinese generals have killed the enemy on the battlefield".

Some China scholars reportedly noted that Zhang emerged from the conflict an avowed moderniser in terms of military tactics, weapons and the need for a force.

(With inputs from agencies)