No, Xi Jinping is not under house arrest, despite online rumors – Mothership.SG

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Over the weekend of September 24-25, rumors of a “palace coup” in Beijing spread on social media.

Several conspirators have alleged, without evidence, that a People’s Liberation Army general took control of the Chinese government and that Chinese President Xi Jinping was placed under house arrest.

These rumors were not accurate.

Wild allegations

Over the weekend, a number of social media outlets started circulating rumors of a coup in China.

The allegations were consistent on a few major points.

Xi was supposedly under house arrest, People’s Liberation Army General Li Qiaoming was leading the coup, and more than 6,000 flights had been canceled.

#XiJingping would be under house arrest after #CCP removed him from his position as head of PLA. General #LiQiaoming is rumored to be China’s new president.
– Unconfirmed sources. pic.twitter.com/btxDEvoOG5

—Sandeep Reddy (@reddygaru89_1) September 24, 2022

Evidence of this was sparse to the point of non-existent, except for a very badly shot video of a highway, allegedly in Beijing, with a handful of military jeeps passing by.

#PLA military vehicles heading towards #Beijing September 22. Starting from Huanlai County near Beijing and ending in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, the entire procession as long as 80 KM. In the meantime, rumor has it that #Xi Jinping was under arrest after #CCP seniors removed him as PLA leader pic.twitter.com/hODcknQMhE

—Jennifer Zeng (@jenniferzeng97) September 23, 2022

However, this story started to spread throughout September 24 and started to be picked up by Indian social media.

Indian media such as Outlook reported on the subject seriously, if not entirely believe it.

In public view

While Xi’s fate was unknown, it was just as easy to imagine him under house arrest surrounded by elite PLA units as it was to think of him. bulimia on Game of Thrones.

It ended on September 27 when Xi was seen in public.

According to Associated Press (AP)Xi visited the “Forging Ahead into the New Era” exhibition at the Beijing Exhibition Hall.

Chinese President #Xi Jinping on Tuesday stressed concerted efforts to resolutely push forward towards another victory for socialism with Chinese characteristics. https://t.co/Hx5ZgsuuoF pic.twitter.com/xIgL1IaPye

— CCTV (@CCTV) September 28, 2022

It was more than a week after his last public appearance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan. He returned to China on September 16.

But according to PAsuch an extended period of time out of the public eye would not normally be considered notable.

Moreover, if Xi had followed the Covid procedures established in China, he would have been in quarantine for at least a week.

So what’s going on?

When CNA reported on Xi’s reappearance in a segment on September 27, their China correspondent Olivia Soong mentioned the rumors.

It may not be difficult to imagine why, because this MIT analysis Technology Review declared:

“Social media is always a mess of misinformation – but you might not notice this mess if you’re unfamiliar with the issue being discussed.”

Technology Review traced the origin of the rumour, supposedly to a contributor to a Falun Gong-supported media network.

Falun Gong is characterized as a spiritual group persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party, but is considered by the Chinese government to be a dangerous sect.

The historical animosity between the group and the Chinese government is notable.

The contributor was also described byTechnology Review as having a history of disinformation, as well as actively playing the “coup” throughout the day on September 24.

East #Xi Jinping Under arrest after #Military #Cut? 3 senior anti-Xi officials sentenced to death
Conflicting Findings, Evidence and Facts Regarding Xi’s Mysterious “Disappearance” After Returning to China #China
Scenario to https://t.co/b2m1RBy4lM
Video at https://t.co/IHVGOxrSvf pic.twitter.com/0oenbjfl9B

—Jennifer Zeng (@jenniferzeng97) September 24, 2022

But the rumor arguably took off when it was picked up by some Indian social media users and news outlets.

India and China are going through a period of heightened geopolitical tension; and Technology Review notes that the average Indian social media user is not particularly knowledgeable about China.

This seems to have contributed to some having a lower threshold for accepting rumours.

Satirical tweets reported later directly

Perhaps the most alarming indication of this fact is this series of parody tweets that have been reposted as fact.

Tweets, by That of the mirror Beijing correspondent Georg Fahrion, who visited several notable Beijing landmarks and sarcastically suggested ordinary scenes were covert symptoms of the non-existent coup.

Today in Beijing, I investigated #chinacoup so you don’t have to. At considerable personal risk, I ventured into some of the city’s key hotspots. Disturbing finds. Prepare yourselves. /1 pic.twitter.com/z4CJYpQbbk

— Georg Fahrion (@scroselysees) September 25, 2022

But they were picked up by the Republic Bharat TV channel and broadcast to the letter.

A sarcastic thread from @barsellysees on #ChinaCoup was picked up by ‘India’s most watched English/Hindi news channel’ @Republic @Republic_Bharat, Photos shared in the Twitter feed were posted by the channel as “Exclusive Images”. This is the state of most TV news channels in India pic.twitter.com/06GFuZmSJ6

— Mohammad Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 25, 2022

Even the seemingly alarming number of 6,000 canceled flights didn’t seem to make a difference to air traffic over China.

As for the rumor circulating about the cancellation of flights, the closure of airspace, etc. in China linked to the rumored coup.

The number of flights over China right now is about the same as exactly a week ago. pic.twitter.com/K6BUn7Mv8C

— Oliver Alexander (@OAlexanderDK) September 23, 2022

Speculation over Xi’s position was perhaps inevitable in the run-up to an important Party congress, where Xi is expected to be named party leader for a third term, an event not seen since the days of Mao Zedong.

But in the end, these incredible rumors were just that: not credible.

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Top image via @CCTV/Twitter