China Purges Senior Military Systems Engineer Amid Expanding Crackdown Within Military

Zhao Xiaozhe, former director of the CMC’s Science and Technology Commission, has been removed from the Chinese Academy of Engineering. This action is part of a broader trend where senior researchers and executives from China’s military programs are being dropped from state-run academies. Insiders suggest these moves are a crackdown on corruption and disloyalty within the secretive military research system.

• Zhao Xiaozhe, former director of the CMC’s Science and Technology Commission, removed from Chinese Academy of Engineering.
• Multiple senior researchers and executives from military programs (nuclear, missile, aircraft, electronic information) removed from state academies.
• Moves are seen as a crackdown on corruption and political disloyalty within China’s military research system.
• The military research system receives significant state funding with limited oversight.