China’s Top General Accused Of Giving Nuclear Secrets To United States

China’s top general is in deep water.

In an exclusive report, the Wall Street Journal has reported that China’s top military general has been ousted from his position after allegedly giving nuclear secrets to the United States.

The General was known in Beijing and to U.S. intelligence as President Xi Jinping’s top military ally.

The New York Post reported more on the general leaking nuclear secrets to the United States:

China’s top general has been accused of leaking nuclear secrets to the US and accepting bribes as President Xi Jinping purges the country’s senior military leadership.

General Zhang Youxia, 75, once considered one of Xi’s most-trusted military allies, allegedly leaked core technical data on China’s nuclear weapons to the US, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Zhang, the first-ranked vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, was officially placed under investigation on Saturday.

He was detained by military corruption investigators earlier this week, according to reports from Chinese outlets.

President Xi has reportedly sent a special task force to Shenyang in northeast China, where Zhang was previously stationed.

The China Observer had these details to add:

Xi Jinping's purge of the 2nd highest ranking PLA general Zhang Youxia reminds me of what happened to Marshal Lin Biao. Due to Lin's growing influence in the PLA, Mao Zedong accused his designated successor Lin of plotting a coup and killed him in the 1971 plane crash. Five years… pic.twitter.com/sJF02u1TGG

— Solomon Yue (@SolomonYue) January 25, 2026

The Wall Street Journal reported China has ousted over 50 senior military leaders within the last couple of years:

Since the summer of 2023, the party has unseated top officers in China’s army, air force, navy, strategic-missile force and paramilitary police, as well as major theater commands—including the one focused on Taiwan. More than 50 senior military officers and defense-industry executives have been placed under investigation or removed from office in the past 2½ years, according to official disclosures reviewed by the Journal.

The Central Military Commission had six professional military members when its current term started in 2022. Now it has just one active uniformed officer, Gen. Zhang Shengmin, who was promoted to vice chairman only in October after the purge of another general who held that role. Unlike Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, who are combat veterans, Zhang Shengmin has served as a political officer and discipline inspector for the bulk of his career, responsible for enforcing loyalty and boosting morale.

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“Given the size and complexity of overseeing any large and sophisticated military organization, this vacuum at the top is untenable,” said M. Taylor Fravel, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He added that it was “bound to have an impact on the PLA’s current readiness to undertake major, complex military operations in the short to medium term.”

Some claim the ousting of Youxia was due to his reluctance to greenlight an attack on Taiwan:

It appears that Xi possibly purged his top general because Zhang Youxia did not think it was possible to invade Taiwan by next year pic.twitter.com/VsWCh08oyq

— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) January 27, 2026