Rumour Has It…How Claims of a ‘Coup’ in China and Xi Jinping being Ousted Went Viral on Social Media

The internet on Saturday was abuzz with rumours of a coup in China meant to depose Xi Jinping as the head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and that Jinping had been placed under house arrest.

The hashtag #ChinaCoup was also trending on Twitter as several unverified accounts made claims about a military coup brewing in China, which had purportedly been planned when Xi was in Samarkand for the SCO summit.

The rumours come in the wake of China’s former Deputy Public Security Minister Sun Lijun, (the ringleader of ‘clique’ against Chinese Communist Party leadership, as per Reuters) was handed a suspended death sentence on Friday on charges including corruption.

Even as these claims started doing the rounds on social media, with many wondering whether there was any verity to them, there was no official report from international news media outlets, or any official confirmation from the Chinese Communist Party or the state media. Several China experts also debunked these claims, stating there was no evidence to suggest anything of the sort.

Where did the rumours start? 

Several unverified social media accounts started sharing claims of a military coup and Jinping being put under house arrest, earlier this week. A Twitter account, New Highland Vision, which has over 20 thousand followers, wrote on September 22 that former Chinese President Hu Jintao and former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had persuaded Song Ping, the former member of the Politburo Standing Committee to take the control of the Central Guard Bureau (CGB) from Jinping.

When Jinping learnt of this, he returned from Samarkand on September 16, where he was held at the Beijing airport and placed under house arrest, it said. The Twitter account did add that it had not verified this claim yet.

北京惊传：14日习出访中亚，当天下午胡温成功说服前任常委宋平，并在当天晚上控制了中 央 警 卫 局。单线通知了江曾和在京中 央 委 员，原来的常委们，以举手表决行式，罢黜了他的军权，当他知道后，16日晚返京，在机场被控制，现软禁在中 南 海 家中，十九届七 中全会将宣布真像。暂无法求证。 pic.twitter.com/bVUQMwToZg

— 新高地官推 官网：https://www.newhighlandvision.com/ (@5xyxh) September 22, 2022

‘Video Proof’ of Army Convoy

Escalating the rumours further, several accounts shared ‘video proof’ of a large military convoy of the PLA making its way to Beijing, claiming it was 80 kms long. The video, widely shared by several unverified accounts with thousands of followers, showed some military vehicles moving along a road. The location or date of the one-minute long video, however, has not been verified by any official channel.

#PLA military vehicles heading to #Beijing on Sep 22. Starting from Huanlai County near Beijing & ending in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, entire procession as long as 80 KM. Meanwhile, rumor has it that #XiJinping was under arrest after #CCP seniors removed him as head of PLA pic.twitter.com/hODcknQMhE

— Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 (@jenniferatntd) September 23, 2022

Claims of Mass Flight Cancellation

Claims that close to 60 percent of flights over Beijing had been cancelled added fuel to fire. One Twitter user claimed that 59 percent flights had been cancelled in the country and several leaders jailed, which indicated to a military coup.

This video of military vehicles moving to #Beijing comes immediately after the grounding of 59% 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. https://t.co/hSUS3210GR

— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) September 24, 2022

Indian defense columnist Saurav Jha also tweeted that several flights to Lhasa Gonggar had been cancelled, saying that this was of direct concern to India and there was a need to check if an uptick in military air traffic over the Tibetan plateau.

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. # XiJinping pic.twitter.com/xFvJDL6xhp

— Saurav Jha (@SJha1618) September 24, 2022

However, China expert Aadil Brar debunked claims of flight cancellations, sharing a screenshot from the flight tracking website, flightradar24, saying “No flights are cancelled anywhere. Look at number of flights in and out of China.”

No flights are cancelled anywhere. Look at number of flights in and out of China. pic.twitter.com/zohASE623C

— Aadil Brar (@aadilbrar) September 24, 2022

While sharing further proof of political activities going on as usual in China, Brar suggested that Xi’s absence from public eye would be that he was quarantining after returning from Samarkand.

Xi is most likely in quarantine after coming back from SCO. There is no coup. Looks like a lot of alt-media in India picked up the rumour.

— Aadil Brar (@aadilbrar) September 24, 2022

Sharing further proof against the rumours, Brar tweeted a screenshot of a letter by Xi which published on the PLA website on Friday, saying “if the military were to start a ‘coup’, the PLA website would stop posting context by Xi and remove the past articles.”

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