Politburo member Zhang Youxia has been suspected of "serious violations of discipline and law"

China has launched an investigation into its highest-ranking general Zhang Youxia, the country's Defense Ministry has announced.

Zhang, a member of the Communist Party's Politburo and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), China's top military body chaired by President Xi Jinping, is suspected of "serious violations of discipline and law," according to a statement released by the MOD on Saturday. Another senior military official, CMC member Liu Zhenli, is also under investigation on similar grounds.

Zhang, 74, joined the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in 1968 and stayed in office beyond the customary retirement age for China's military.

Some Western outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and The Times, suggested that Zhang may have leaked information related to China's nuclear programme to the US and accepted large bribes in exchange for official promotions. Beijing has not confirmed these claims.

The state-run Global Times cited an editorial published on Sunday in the top military newspaper, the PLA Daily, which said that officials guilty of corruption would be "dealt with without leniency" regardless of the position they hold.

Since beginning his third term as China's president in 2023, Xi has intensified efforts to fight corruption in both the armed forces and the Communist Party's top decision-making body, the Politburo. He has argued that graft undermines the country's development and weakens party discipline.

Multiple top officials have been dismissed over the course of three years, including two vice chairmen and three members of the CMC, a defense minister, and more than a dozen of generals.

Speaking at a meeting of the country's top anti-graft agency on January 12, Xi said the CPC Central Committee had made "solid progress" in improving party conduct and combating corruption. He added that the situation remained "grave and complex" and warned that there must be "no place to hide" for corrupt officials.