In an incident reminiscent of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent purge of the top brass of China’s armed forces, the profiles of at least three scientists, including one of the country’s leading nuclear weapons experts, have disappeared from the website of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), Hong Kong-based daily South China Morning Post reported.
According to the report, the profiles of three scientists, Zhao Xiangeng, Wu Manqing and Wei Yiyin vanished from the CAE website on Saturday. The three are considered leading experts in the fields of nuclear weapons, radar technology and missile design.
All three were members of the CAE, China’s highest honorary and advisory academic institution in engineering and technological sciences. Established in 1994, the academy functions as a think tank for the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, the country’s top administrative authority.
Membership in the CAE is widely regarded as the highest academic honour in engineering and technology in China. However, according to the South China Morning Post report, no explanation has been given for the removal of the profiles of the three prominent academicians.
The development comes just two months after a purge of China’s military leadership under Xi Jinping led to the downfall of generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli. Both were members of the powerful Central Military Commission, China’s top military body, and were reportedly investigated on corruption charges and for allegedly leaking sensitive information.
So who are the scientists whose profiles have disappeared from one of China’s most prestigious academic bodies, and could the move be linked to the ongoing purge within China’s military and defence establishment?
WHO ARE THE THREE SCIENTISTS WHOSE PROFILES VANISHED FROM THE CAE WEBSITE?
According to the South China Morning Post, the oldest among them, Zhao Xiangeng, is one of China’s foremost nuclear weapons experts. Apart from his role in the CAE, he is also associated with Beijing’s Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, whose website still lists him as “one of the main academic and technical leaders in the country’s nuclear weapons research.”
The institute is the only organisation in China focused on the theoretical design and research of strategic weapons. It works on advanced weapons systems, conventional weapons development and fusion energy research.
According to the institute, Zhao “was responsible for formulating theoretical plans, validating reliability, tackling key technological challenges and making decisions, significantly contributing to the development of our nuclear science and technology under a nuclear weapon test ban,” the South China Morning Post reported. He has been a member of the CAE since 2011 and also served as its vice-president for two years.
The second expert whose profile vanished from the CAE site is radar specialist Wu Manqing. According to the report, Wu played a key role in China’s effort to develop its own early-warning aircraft, which ultimately resulted in the production of the KJ-500 used by the Chinese air force.
Wu also led major national projects involving social security risk perception and big-data applications, integrated electronic information systems for the military and the development of an integrated communications network linking satellites with ground stations, according to his profile on the website of the China Satellite Navigation Conference. He was elected a CAE academician in 2009.
The third expert is missile scientist Wei Yiyin, who became a CAE member in 2019. According to the report, he previously served as vice general manager of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, which develops defence products such as missile systems, solid rockets and space equipment.
IS XI PURGING CHINA’S NUCLEAR AND MISSILE EXPERTS?
As of the time of filing this report, Beijing had not provided any explanation for why the profiles of the three academicians were removed. However, similar cases in the past suggest that such disappearances can sometimes precede disciplinary action.
In 2017, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that environmental scientist Meng Wei was removed from the CAE over “serious discipline violations” after his profile was scrubbed from official websites.
More recently, a 2024 report by CNN said that prominent rocket scientist Xiao Longxu was expelled from the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference amid a sweeping anti-corruption campaign targeting China’s defence sector. That campaign also brought down eight senior figures linked to the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, including rocket scientist Wang Xiaojun and former defence ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, reported the South China Morning Post.
In February this year, the South China Morning Post also reported that three defence-industry figures, including nuclear expert Liu Cangli, former China Academy of Engineering Physics head Luo Qi and aviation executive Zhou Xinmin were expelled from China’s National People’s Congress.
2026 also saw Xi’s purges hitting China’s highest military brass, after Generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zheneli, were accused of corruption and leaking state secrets.
For now, it remains unclear whether Zhao Xiangeng, Wu Manqing and Wei Yiyin are facing a similar fate. But given the sweeping anti-corruption drive that has already shaken China’s military, defence industry and scientific establishment, the sudden disappearance of their profiles has raised fresh questions about whether another purge may be unfolding behind the scenes.
