TNI Bureau: When it comes to China, Fact Check gives up. Yes, it’s really difficult to figure out what’s happening in that country considering the level of secrecy they maintain. But, there are some people in Beijing who have trashed the ‘coup theory’ that has set Social Media abuzz.
Senior Journalist of ‘The Hindu’, Ananth Krishnan, a known strategic expert who is based in Beijing and has been covering China extensively, does not believe the rumour mill.
“While Chinese politics is the blackest of black boxes, I’ve come across zero evidence in Beijing today to substantiate any of the social media rumours,” he tweeted.
“My two cents: I expect Xi to come out of the Congress next month in command of Party, State & military for the next five years”, he added.
Ananth also published a report with the information that “A top official accused of challenging Xi’s authority & “endangering political security” was on Friday sentenced to life in prison”.
He also posted the newspaper clipping of latest edition of PLA Daily in which Xi Jinping has sent his congratulatory message to China News Service on its 70th anniversary.
”Under zero Covid, a city has mass flight cancellations to PEK if they report a case. Guess no one noticed this until this weekend, but how one jumps from cancellations to coups is beyond me”, he tweeted this morning.
While the Internet is abuzz with Xi Jinping’s house arrest and PLA coup, some sources have pointed out that Xi is probably under quarantine following his return from the SCO Summit. That’s strongly believed by Aadil Brar, a Senior Journalist of ‘The Print’ who covers China.
“People comparing flights over Delhi vs Beijing don’t realize that travel to China isn’t back to pre-COVID levels while the cost of travel to mainland is through the roof,” he tweeted.
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What’s true and what’s not! The picture will be clear soon once either Xi Jinping or his rumoured successor will come out in public sooner than later.
But, yes, based on the Internet research, reasons behind flight cancellation and having a close look at the people who are spreading some information and those who are trying to counter, it seems that these are just baseless rumours, nothing else.
Let’s wait and watch.
While Chinese politics is the blackest of black boxes, I’ve come across zero evidence in Beijing today to substantiate any of the social media rumours.
My two cents: I expect Xi to come out of the Congress next month in command of Party, State & military for the next five years
— Ananth Krishnan (@ananthkrishnan) September 24, 2022
People comparing flights over Delhi vs Beijing don’t realize that travel to China isn’t back to pre-COVID levels while the cost of travel to mainland is through the roof.
— Aadil Brar (@aadilbrar) September 24, 2022
Flights have been cancelled constantly in China during Covid, and the Covid shield is being heightened because of the upcoming party Congress. The idea that this is a coup indicator is bollocks.
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) September 24, 2022
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