BEIJING – China’s top general is suspected of passing secret information about the country’s nuclear weapons programme to the US, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with a high-level briefing on the allegations.

General Zhang Youxia, 75, is also accused of accepting bribes for official acts, including the promotion of an officer to the post of defence minister, the newspaper reported on Jan 25. The briefing was held before

China’s Defence Ministry announced on Jan 24 that it was investigating Gen Zhang,

WSJ said.

The general is alleged to have leaked core technical data on China’s nuclear weapons to the US and is being probed for allegedly forming political cliques and abusing his authority on military decisions, according to the report, which goes beyond China’s announcement that it was investigating Gen Zhang, a Politburo member and one-time ally of President Xi Jinping.

Officials are scrutinising Gen Zhang’s oversight of a powerful agency responsible for the research, development and procurement of military hardware, the WSJ said, adding that he is alleged to have accepted significant sums of money in exchange for official promotions in the procurement system.

Gen Zhang could be reached for comment, the newspaper said. The Chinese Embassy in Washington also didn’t respond to its questions, nor did the defence ministry respond to a request for comment.

General Liu Zhenli, a member of the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, is also being investigated, according to the brief statement on Jan 24 that referred to “serious discipline and law violations”.

The probes sent shockwaves through the highest echelons of military power in China, expanding the country’s widest purge of generals since Mao Zedong’s chaotic rule ended in 1976.