A Filipino Facebook (FB) page published a video echoing baseless rumors of Chinese President Xi Jinping facing incarceration in Beijing while being supplanted by a general of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This is not true.
On Sept. 27, the false video appeared with the headline: “Naku po! Chinese President Xi Jinping ikinulong umano sa Beijing – CCP ipinalit si Li Qiaoming (Oh, no! Chinese President Xi Jinping allegedly jailed in Beijing – CCP [Chinese Communist Party] placed Li Qiaoming).”
The video narrator said the PLA allegedly attempted a coup in Beijing while Xi was away at a summit in Uzbekistan. It also mentioned that Jennifer Zeng, a Chinese-born vlogger based in New York, uploaded a video on Twitter capturing the supposed coup in action.
Xi’s arrest and the supposed coup are unfounded rumors. Even the narrator said this was a “speculation” and offered no evidence to support its claim. The CCP has yet to make an official comment on the matter, but no legitimate news organization has reported on such events happening.
Xi also remains the president of China.
Zeng published a short video on Twitter supposedly taken from a military vehicle on the way to Beijing. She made it like fellow CCP senior officials arrested Xi, but later said that a source told her this was not true.
Meanwhile, amid rumors of his arrest, Xi made his first public appearance at a Sept. 27 exhibit in Beijing since he returned from a trip to Central Asia in mid-September.
The speculation emerged during an apparent anti-corruption purge of senior security officials ahead of a key CCP congress in October, when Xi expects to be granted an unprecedented third term as president.
FB page PH TV (created on Nov. 1, 2021) published the video, garnering over 5,500 reactions, 470 comments, 680 shares, and 214,000 views.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
