Former PLA Science Chiefs Delisted as China’s Military Crackdown Widens

Two former heads of China’s powerful Central Military Commission Science and Technology Commission have been scrubbed from the membership rolls of the country’s leading scientific academies, adding to rumors of a widening crackdown within the country’s military-industrial establishment.

As of mid-August, Zhao Xiaozhe, a vice admiral and former director of the commission, no longer appeared on the Chinese Academy of Engineering’s roster of academicians. His personal profile and other references on the academy’s website were also removed.

Earlier this year, information on Zhao’s predecessor, Liu Guozhi, likewise vanished from the Chinese Academy of Sciences website. Neither academy explained the removals or the reasoning behind them.

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A far fall from grace

Zhao, 63, spent much of his career working on military command-and-control systems, naval operations, and defense technology. He became deputy director of the CMC Science and Technology Commission in 2018 and later headed the body, placing him at the center of Beijing’s efforts to modernize the PLA through artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and next-generation weapons research.

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Questions surrounding his status had already surfaced after he missed a high-level Communist Party study session on artificial intelligence in April 2025, when a deputy attended in his place. His absence drew attention because the commission plays a key role in coordinating military innovation and translating civilian scientific advances into defense applications.

Liu, meanwhile, was a prominent specialist in high-power microwave and pulsed-power technologies and previously led military science and technology work under the PLA’s former General Armaments Department. He later headed the CMC Science and Technology Commission during a period when Beijing was accelerating investment in strategic technologies, including directed-energy systems, advanced electronics, and weapons development.

Growing military crackdown

The removal of both men comes amid one of the most extensive upheavals in China’s military leadership in years. On Jan. 24, Chinese authorities announced investigations into Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia and Joint Staff Department chief Liu Zhenli for suspected “serious violations of discipline and law,” phrases commonly used in major corruption and political-discipline cases.

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The investigations followed earlier removals and probes involving senior officers in the Rocket Force, equipment procurement, logistics, and other branches of the People’s Liberation Army.

The military science and technology sector is now drawing similar attention. An individual using the pseudonym “Lü Fei,” described by The Epoch Times as familiar with the defense sector, said corruption has long been concentrated in areas such as research projects, technical evaluations, weapons-development proposals, and funding allocation.

“Departments working on defense projects receive annual allocations of several billion yuan,” he said. “If funds run short, they simply submit a request. To get a project approved, they have to spend money to grease the wheels. Just imagine how many of these defense products actually meet standards.”

Secrecy creating opportunities for abuse

Another source identified by the pseudonym “Liu Yuyi” said the Science and Technology Commission holds influence over military research priorities, major weapons projects, and substantial funding. “This department has a large budget, making it prone to embezzlement,” he said. “Even drafting a project proposal is classified as a military secret, so no one reviews it. Many people have already been arrested in the military-industrial technology sector, and now the focus is on thoroughly investigating it.”

He further argued that the closed nature of military research makes independent oversight especially difficult. Technical specialists capable of evaluating projects may themselves be embedded within the same institutions distributing funding and approving contracts. “As soon as money is involved, those in power get anxious because there’s not much left in the national treasury,” Liu said.

Those allegations come as a number of prominent scientists with defense-industry backgrounds have also disappeared from official academy listings in recent years, including experts connected to missiles, aerospace, nuclear technology, and military electronics.

Questions over readiness and procurement

The growing scrutiny comes as Beijing continues pouring resources into military modernization, advanced weapons, aerospace systems, and emerging technologies. Some overseas commentators have attempted to link corruption inside the defense sector to recent technical failures, including unsuccessful rocket launches.

Analysts say the more significant question is whether repeated corruption probes point to deeper weaknesses in China’s procurement and research system, particularly in sectors where secrecy limits external oversight. If funding is misallocated, project evaluations are compromised, or procurement decisions are influenced by political and personal networks, the effects can extend beyond financial losses to questions of quality control, weapons reliability, and military readiness.

For Beijing, the disappearance of two successive military science chiefs from elite academic institutions offers another glimpse into a campaign that has spread from senior commanders and procurement officials into the scientists and administrators responsible for developing the PLA’s future weapons.