Three Chinese academicians, including a nuclear weapons expert, have been removed from the China Academy of Engineering (CAE) website roster, drawing attention to the circumstances behind their disappearances.
According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on the 16th, the names of three academicians including Zhao Xianggeng (72), former vice president of CAE, have been deleted from the website of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the nation's top academic institution for engineering and technology under the State Council.
Chinese local media reports revealed that radar expert Wu Manqing (60) and missile expert Wei Yiyin (63) also disappeared from the roster along with former Vice President Zhao.
The CAE academician title, together with the Chinese Academy of Sciences academician designation, is a lifetime honorary position awarded to China's top scientists and engineers.
Their removal from the CAE website effectively constitutes expulsion, though no information regarding the background has been disclosed. However, observers speculate this may be an extension of anti-corruption investigations surrounding China's military leadership and defense sector, as Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Liu Zhenli, Central Military Commission member and chief of the Joint Staff Department, are reportedly under investigation by authorities.
Former Vice President Zhao's profile remains posted on the Beijing Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics website. His name is included among 13 academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and CAE in the institute's "Science and Technology Team" section. He was named to the CAE academician roster in 2011. The institute describes him as one of the key academic and technical leaders in China's nuclear weapons research.
China, a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), declared a moratorium on nuclear testing in 1996. However, the U.S. government recently claimed that China secretly conducted nuclear tests in June 2020, which Beijing has denied.
Wu Manqing, former general manager of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), contributed to the development of China's indigenous early warning radar systems. This led to the production of the KJ-500 early warning aircraft operated by the Chinese Air Force. He was named a CAE academician in 2009.
Wei Yiyin, a missile guidance and control expert, became an academician in 2019. He served as deputy general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the state-owned enterprise leading China's space exploration program, before being replaced in 2023.
