Gordon G. Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China and The Great U.S.-China Tech War," recently said that although many rumors are circulating about China, it is basically impossible at this time to know what is true. There are rumors that a military coup took place in China and Xi Jinping is under house arrest.
"Something is up in China. The rumors remind us, once again, that the country is volatile and very few outsiders know what happens in senior CCP circles," Chang wrote in a Sept. 23 Twitter post.
Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly has not been seen in public since returning from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan, sparking rumors that a military coup is taking place in China and Xi is under house arrest, Newsweek reported.
Some reports said flights, trains and buses out of Beijing were canceled over the weekend, but while Beijing Capital Airport's website showed that some flights had been canceled, many were still taking off.
Drew Thompson, a former Department of Defense official who worked with China, said in a Sept. 23 tweet, "A coup against Xi Jinping is always possible, but the rumors spreading today don't sound like today is the day. It might be wishful thinking on some people's part. It might be the horrors of Twitter's algorithm. But it does not sound true to me, not at this point."
Some social media users have speculated Xi was removed from his post while in Uzbekistan and has been replaced by Li Qiaoming, a general in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), according to the Hindu Business Line. A video of a long procession of military vehicles allegedly moving into Beijing, shared by human rights activist Jennifer Zeng, added to the rumors.
Xi has been expected to reinstall himself for a rare third term during the upcoming Chinese Communist Party Congress, which takes place in mid-October and lasts about a week, Politico reported.
