News of an alleged coup in China, with President Xi Jinping under house arrest, is popular on social media. On Twitter, the hashtags #Xi and #ChinaCoup are on the rise, but there is no confirmation from the Beijing government and the news does not appear in Chinese media. For many Internet sites, this would be baseless news that is part of an anti-Xi conspiracy. According to thousands of unconfirmed users on social media, the organization of the coup by the People’s Liberation Army of China would have started while Xi was in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to attend the summit of the SCO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. And according to some sources, it is somehow linked to former Chinese vice minister of public security Sun Lijun’s death sentence on corruption charges.
The first to break the news of the alleged coup was a Twitter account, New Highland Vision, which has more than 20,000 followers and which wrote that former Chinese President Hu Jintao and former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao convinced Song Ping, l ‘former member of the Politburo Standing Committee, to take control of Xi’s Central Guard Office. Upon hearing the news, according to this reconstruction, Xi would have returned to Beijing from Samarkand in advance and would have been arrested at the airport. Newsweek speaks of “speculation” and refers to sources who claim a coup was carried out in China, citing the fact that no commercial flights have flown over Beijing since yesterday. The sources guarantee, although there is no confirmation, that rail and road connections from the Chinese capital were also cancelled. On the Beijing Capital Airport website, Newsweek continues, it can be seen that several flights departing from the Chinese capital have been canceled, but many more are still scheduled or have already landed. The Times of India talks about 6,000 canceled domestic and international flights and the suspension of high-speed train ticket sales. According to other sources on Twitter, 59% of flights departing Beijing have been cancelled. Newsweek also talks about a military exercise that used to be a program but was cancelled.
Sources on social media claim that there was an alleged coup in China also cite a video circulating on Twitter that, according to the post, would show a 80-kilometer long line of military vehicles bound for Beijing. It is a film that dates back to the 22nd of September but, as it lasts less than a minute, it does not allow us to ascertain whether the column of military vehicles is really that long.
The rumor of the alleged coup was also fueled by Indian politician Subramanian Swamy, who tweeted to his 10 million followers: “New rumor to check: Xi Jingping is under house arrest in Beijing? When Xi was recently in Samarkand, CCP leaders should have removed Xi from his post as head of the Party’s army. Then came house arrest. So they say ». But Drew Thompson, a former US Defense Department official for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, described the rumors as “a complete lie”. News of the coup was also rejected by columnist Frida Ghitis, a former CNN correspondent, who rejected the “bad rumors” coming from China.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
