Profiles of top Chinese nuclear and missile experts vanish. Another Xi Jinping purge?
India Today
The profiles of at least three of China's leading nuclear, missile and radar experts were scrubbed from the website of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the country's most prestigious academic body. This comes as a series of purges under Premier Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign have decimated the upper echelons of China's military and scientific community.
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?
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