By Li Deyan, Vision Times
China’s military-industrial system continues to face an uphill political battle as Zhang Jianhua, former deputy head of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND), has now been formally arrested, insider sources say.
Zhang, once a close subordinate of senior officials Ma Xingrui and Xu Dazhe, is the latest high-ranking figure to fall amid the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) widening purge of the defense and aerospace sector. Zhang’s arrest follows on the heels of high level purges involving senior military officers Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli as CCP leader Xi Jinping aims to tighten control of the armed forces.
Former SASTIND Deputy Director arrested
On Feb. 10, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced that, under designated jurisdiction, prosecutors in Sichuan Province had approved Zhang’s arrest on suspicion of bribery and “accepting bribes through influence.” The Sichuan provincial procuratorate issued the arrest decision, and the Dazhou City procuratorate has already filed formal charges with the Dazhou Intermediate People’s Court.
Authorities allege that Zhang abused his official position to secure benefits for others, and that after leaving office, he continued to exploit the influence and convenience of his former status to obtain improper gains through other state officials. Prosecutors claim he illegally accepted “especially huge” sums of money and property.
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Zhang had already turned himself in for investigation on May 28, 2025, and was expelled from the Communist Party later that year on Oct. 27.
Climbing up the ranks
Born in August 1961, Zhang is from Yixing, Jiangsu Province, and graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology. He spent his entire career inside China’s defense-industrial apparatus.
From 1983 to 1990, Zhang worked across the Ministry of Ordnance Industry, the State Machinery Industry Commission, and China North Industries Group. Between 1990 and 1998, he rose through management roles in China Ordnance Industry Corporation, eventually becoming deputy director of its financial accounting bureau.
From 1998 to 2008, Zhang held key posts within the former Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, including director of the defense project review center and head of its development research center.
After the commission was dissolved in 2008, Zhang became department director and chief engineer of the newly reorganized SASTIND. In 2013, he was appointed deputy director and party leadership member. From 2018 onward, he also served as deputy director of the China Atomic Energy Authority before retiring in October 2021.
SASTIND is the CCP’s central administrative body overseeing defense science and industrial production across nuclear, aerospace, aviation, shipbuilding, electronics, and weapons development.
Political connections to Ma Xingrui
Zhang served as SASTIND deputy director from January 2013 to October 2021. During part of that period, Ma Xingrui served as SASTIND director from March to December 2013, meaning Zhang was Ma’s deputy for nearly ten months.
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Their overlap extended further back. While Zhang held senior roles in defense project oversight between 1998 and 2012, Ma was rising through China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, serving as general manager and top executive. The two had long-standing ties within the military-industrial system.
Such connections can be valuable political capital during periods of ascent, but become liabilities when associated patrons fall from favor. Ma Xingrui, widely viewed as a trusted figure promoted under Chinese President Xi Jinping, was appointed Party Secretary of Xinjiang in December 2021 and elevated to the Politburo in 2022.
However, on July 1, 2025, authorities abruptly replaced him with Chen Xiaojiang, stating only that Ma would receive “another appointment.” No new position followed. Ma has since repeatedly missed major political meetings in Beijing, including Politburo study sessions, the Central Economic Work Conference, and other high-level gatherings, fueling speculation that his political standing has deteriorated.
Zhang Jianhua’s decision to surrender himself in May 2025 came just over a month before Ma was suddenly recalled to Beijing, adding to suspicions of deeper internal political fallout.
A widening purge
Zhang’s case is not isolated. His former superior Xu Dazhe, who succeeded Ma as SASTIND director from 2013 to 2016, has also faced mounting trouble. Xu began missing National People’s Congress Standing Committee meetings in late 2024. On October 28, 2025, he was stripped of his NPC delegate status, further signaling political downfall.
The CCP’s ongoing military purge has increasingly engulfed defense-industrial executives, with numerous senior figures reportedly removed, investigated, or disappearing from public view. Those affected include leaders from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China Ordnance Industry Group, Aviation Industry Corporation of China, China Electronics Technology Group, and other strategic conglomerates.
On Feb. 4, 2026, an official NPC Standing Committee announcement stated that several figures, including former AVIC chairman Zhou Xinmin, China Academy of Engineering Physics head Liu Cangli, and China National Nuclear Corporation chief engineer Luo Qi, were removed from their delegate positions.
Commentator Wang He argued that the shake-up may extend far beyond individual arrests: “Because military-industrial enterprises and military generals — Zhang Youxia became vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and he has long managed logistics and equipment. So his involvement with defense enterprises runs very deep. If Xi Jinping wants to uproot him entirely, that would implicate a large number of defense industry personnel, not just senior generals.”
As Beijing intensifies its political cleansing of the military-industrial complex, Zhang Jianhua’s arrest underscores how deeply intertwined defense, patronage networks, and power struggles have become inside the CCP system.
