The Chinese Communist Party’s official announcement today (June 24) reported that Biang Zhigang, deputy director of the National Defense Science and Technology Industry Bureau (referred to as the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau), is under investigation. In recent years, as part of the sweeping clean-up within the Chinese Communist military-industrial complex, multiple former or current high-ranking officials of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau have been implicated.
According to the news released on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, Biang Zhigang is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law” and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and surveillance investigation.
Public records show that Biang Zhigang has worked at the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau for a long time. He has held positions such as Chief Engineer of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau and, in 2024, he served as a member of the party committee and deputy director of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau, as well as deputy director of the National Space Administration, until his recent investigation.
The Chinese Communist National Defense Science and Technology Bureau is responsible for managing the defense science and technology industry. It is in charge of organizational coordination and military core capability construction in major areas such as nuclear, aerospace, aviation, shipbuilding, weapons, electronics, and other fields related to research, production, and development of weapons and equipment.
Since the purge at the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Rocket Force in 2023, with a retrospective investigation spanning 10 years, a large number of senior executives from military-state-owned enterprises have fallen, party and government officials with military industry backgrounds have been targeted, and batches of academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering with military industry backgrounds have been expelled, marking an unprecedented and extensive cleansing in history. Several former and current high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist National Defense Science and Technology Bureau have already been implicated.
Former political bureau member and former Xinjiang Regional Party Secretary Ma Xingrui was officially ousted in April this year. Ma Xingrui served as Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau from March 2013 to December 2013.
Xu Dazhe, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and former Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, disappeared from public view at the end of 2024 and has been missing for over a year, amid rumors of being investigated. Xu Dazhe served as Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau from December 2013 to August 2016.
Zhang Kejian, who served as Director from May 2018 to January 2025, was successively relieved of his positions as Secretary of the Party Committee of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau and Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau in December 2024 and January this year, confirming rumors of involvement in corruption.
Former Deputy Director of the National Defense Science and Technology Bureau, Zhang Jianhua, voluntarily surrendered last May.