Is it a social media myth or does it have merit? Chinese social media has lit up over the past 48 hours with rumors of a coup against Xi Jinping. Cancellation of over 9,000 flights across China spark banter of a coup and Xi being put under house arrest. Social Media posters question the cancellation of flights as well as suspension of bus and train services across the country. One poster added an unverified picture of a nearly 50 mile long line of military vehicles traveling on the outskirts of Beijing.
President Xi has not been seen in publicly since he made an appearance inSamarkand, Uzbekistan back on September 14th at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Heads of State Summit. Adding to the speculation of turmoil was Xi’s absence at the China National Defense and Military Reform Seminar, and the sudden prominence of Chinese Peoples Liberation Army General, Li Qiaoming, in state media reports about the event. Coincidences possible but enough to create speculation across Chinese social media.
One of the first mentions of a coup showed up on a Chinese language Twitter account with @5xyxh Twitter handle. The account has over 70,000 followers and states in its bio, “It is my responsibility to study and protect the country”. The account tweeted the following on September 16th. The following passage was translated from Chinese:
“Xi visited Central Asia on the 14th, and Hu and Wen (Former President Hu Jintao and Former Premier Wen Jiabao) successfully persuaded Song Ping, the former member of the Standing Committee to remove Xi from military power. Jiang Zeng and the members of the Central Committee in Beijing were informed on a single line. The original Standing Committee members removed his military power by a show of hands. When he found out, he returned to Beijing on the evening of the 16th, was controlled at the airport, and is now under house arrest at Zhongnanhai’s home. The real story will be announced at the Seventh Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee. Unable to verify.” The topic is generating enough search activity to show up as a leading world search on Google Trends. It’s impossible to verify if there’s any truth to the story because the PRC would never admit to anything wrong under Xi’s leadership.
