Social Media platforms are flooded with rumours about the political crisis in China. This has led to people’s anticipation ranging from probable military movement in Western China to political or military coups against President Xi Jinping.
The evidence provided for such assumptions includes reports of cancelled flights in regions of China, Xi’s absence from public view for an extended period of time, and video clips reportedly showing military trucks marching towards the capital Beijing. However, there has been no government reaction to these assumptions, nor has there been any verifiable news on the military march into the capital.
Is Xi Jinping under house arrest?
Twitter accounts with tens of thousands of followers have reported a coup against Xi. Photographs of a possible replacement of Xi Jinping have also appeared. However, none of these updates come from verified or reliable sources, and the majority of them are from anonymous people.
“This video of military vehicles moving to Beijing comes immediately after the grounding of 59 percent of the flights in the country and the jailings of senior officials. There’s a lot of smoke, which means there is a fire somewhere inside the CCP. China is unstable,” said author Gordon G Chang.
Writer Saurav Jha, who specialises in defence affairs, tweeted that, on Saturday, there were no passenger flights to TARC (Tibet Autonomous Region Of China). “Of direct concern to us here in India. Many Flights to Lhasa Gonggar are also being cancelled. We have to see if there is an uptick in military air traffic over the Tibetan plateau or not,” Jha stated, anticipating army movement in Western China that borders the region where India and China have been confronted in a military deadlock for more than two years.
What are experts’ opinions?
All the experts on China have emphasised that there is no evidence of conflict in China, apart from rumours on social media, specifically in Indian circles. Adil Barar, the Indian expert on China’s matters, has noted that Xi Jinping is probably in quarantine after returning from the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) summit. Also read- Modi, Putin, Xi, Along Other Leaders To Attend SCO Summit 2022.
The quarantine of Jinping is the most logical region behind why he is absent from public appearances. Barar also denies any disruption of flights as per the data. Additionally, he shared visuals showing senior Chinese officials briefing the public, indicating the government is running normally.
