China's fresh investigation into the military, this time targeting the country's top uniformed soldier, has left the country's seven-member military body with only two members.
Zhang Youxia, 75, is the first vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), which is led by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The top military body is responsible for the overall capability as well as operational preparedness of the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army, or PLA.
In addition to Zhang, the authorities are also investigating Liu Zhenli, a member of the CMC and chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department.
China's military leadership is led by Xi, who sits on the seven-member CMC with two vice chairmen and four members.
Since Beijing has tightened scrutiny of the military over the past few years, the CMC has been left with only two members—Xi and Zhang Shengmin, who is secretary of the CMC commission discipline inspection.
Zhang Youxia, He Weidong, Li Shangfu, Miao Hua, and Liu Zhenli were the other five members who made it to the current CMC formed in 2022.
Almost all of them have been investigated for "suspected serious discipline and law violations," a term generally referring to graft in Chinese officialdom.
About Zhang and Liu, the Chinese military's newspaper People's Liberation Army Daily wrote that the duo "undermined" Xi's authority, abetted "political and corruption problems" and undermined the party's leadership over the armed forces, and "caused immense damage" to combat effectiveness.
The two also sat on the powerful 24-member Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since Xi was elected for an unprecedented third term as party chief in 2022.
While He, Li, and Miao have been removed from the CMC, the fate of Zhang and Liu remains to be seen as the investigation progresses.
Li Shangfu also served as defense minister but was removed from the post in late 2023.
Admiral Dong Jun succeeded the former defense chief, marking the first time a naval officer has been picked for such a position since Dec. 2023.
Dong has not been elevated to the coveted CMC.
Zhang and Liu are two of the few serving Chinese generals with combat experience since the days of border skirmishes with Vietnam, and investigation into the two is the highest at least since the Tiananmen Square incident of 1989.
After joining the PLA in 1968, Zhang rose to become a Politburo member in 2017 and was promoted to first vice chairman of the CMC in 2022.
"China's senior-most general is accused of leaking information about the country's nuclear-weapons program to the US and accepting bribes for official acts, including the promotion of an officer to defense minister," the US-based Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing "people familiar with a high-level briefing on the allegations."
When asked for a comment on claims by the American news outlet, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Monday that he was "not familiar with" such claims.
Neil Thomas, a senior expert on China affairs at the New York-based Asia Society, also expressed skepticism about the WSJ claims.
"How would Zhang even do this?... his communications are monitored and he rarely (if ever?) meets anyone unaccompanied," said Thomas.
"Would require a pretty vast conspiracy to go undetected for a long time," he said.
The claims of the nuclear secrets' leak also made rounds when former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang was suddenly removed in 2023.
Qin reemerged months later, stripped of rank in the CCP Central Committee but still addressed as "comrade" by the party.
"Back then, I found these reports highly questionable: how would Qin get anywhere close to nuclear secrets?" Thomas asked, adding: "And if this were true and known by Beijing, surely Qin would be purged rather than allowed to just resign from the Central Committee?"
The biggest purge in decades was announced last October when Beijing expelled two members of the CMC, among nine generals.
Gen. He Weidong, the CMC's second vice chairman and a member of the 24-man Politburo, as well as Adm. Miao Hua, another CMC member, had been removed from the party.
According to the Chinese defense ministry, the generals were found to have "seriously violated (Communist) Party discipline and were suspected of serious duty-related crimes involving an extremely large amount of money, of an extremely serious nature and with extremely detrimental consequences."
He, 68, was the first serving member of the Politburo, China's highest decision-making body, to face a graft investigation.
Gen. Miao, 70, was removed from the CMC last June.
Miao was an admiral in the PLA Navy and had been serving as director of the CMC's political department.
He was last seen in public in Oct. 2024, when he attended the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Xi picked Li Shangfu, 67, as his first defense chief during his third term.
However, shortly after his appointment, he went missing in August 2023, and in July 2024, the CCP announced that Li Shangfu and former PLA Rocket Force commander Li Yuchao had been expelled from the party for "serious violations of discipline and law."
Chinese authorities reportedly investigated Li for corruption in military equipment procurement and development.
He was also sanctioned by the US government over China's purchases of Russian combat aircraft and arms.
Liu Zhenli, 61, served as chief of the Joint Staff Department at the CMC.
His role included overseeing the PLA's joint operations, training, and combat readiness.
It was on Dec 22, when CMC vice chairman Zhang and Liu were last seen in public attending a ceremony conferring the rank of general on two senior PLA officers.
