Chinese military intelligence chief Xing Yunming held in graft inquiry

The chief of a Chinese military intelligence agency is under investigation for alleged corruption, detained by graft-busters in the run-up to Lunar New Year, according to two independent sources.

Major General Xing Yunming, the former liaison office head of the People's Liberation Army's General Political Department, was taken away by the army's anti-graft watchdog on February 17.

He was in charge of overseas espionage and is better known to the West as the vice-chairman of the government-backed China Association for International Friendly Contact, which used to be the Department of Enemy Work.

"Xing was born in the Year of Goat, and some are saying sarcastically that it was his year to be taken away," one of the sources said.

Xing's detention follows that of Ma Jian, former executive deputy minister of the omnipotent Ministry of State Security. Ma is closely linked to Ling Jihua , who was detained last month on corruption charges and was an aide to former president Hu Jintao.

Ma is the highest-ranking national security official to be investigated since the downfall of Zhou Yongkang, the former security tsar who was detained in July over alleged corruption.

Military observers said the detentions pointed to an overhaul of the Communist Party's intelligence wings in the aftermath of Zhou's arrest.