The truth behind 'China coup' and Xi Jinping being 'under house arrest'. Did social media cross the line?

Social media rumours from multiple sources claiming an attempt of a military coup in China and President Xi Jinping being under house arrest went viral in the past couple of days. The shocking, but unverified,claims tried to paint a chaotic picture of China and a dramatic shift in politics, which was a farce.

As WION dissected the viral news, it appears that those were just baseless claims shared by unverified social media handles and no concrete pieces of evidence were provided. It is most likely a meal cooked on Twitter and served with extra salt and pepper by the Twitterati with the hashtag #ChinaCoup trending on Twitter heavily.

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The claims created a buzz on social media after some top news channels, including in India, carried it as "exclusive news". But, the rumour mill has now stopped ahead of a key meeting of China's ruling Communist party next month, when Xi is expected to be granted an unprecedented third term.

Reports have mentioned that Xi is expected to be re-appointed as leader of the party and military commission at the once-in-five-years meeting. The list of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) central committee delegates for the party congress was announced by state media on Sunday.

When did it start?

The rumours started just a couple of days after senior security officials were jailed for corruption in China. Former vice-minister of public security Sun Lijun, former justice minister Fu Zhenghua, and former police chiefs of Shanghai, Chongqing and Shanxi were sent to prisonby Chinese courts on corruption charges last week.

How did it start?

It started when unfounded claims accompanied by videos of military vehicles - without attributing sources - were circulated on social media. Some shared videos claiming them to be the actual footage of military vehicles moving to Beijing, which came after the so-called "grounding of 59 per cent of the flights in the country and the jailings of senior officials". It showcased a coup-like situation.

A Twitter user with an account identified as New Highland Vision wrote that former Chinese president Hu Jintao and former premier Wen Jiabao persuaded Song Ping, the former member of the Politburo Standing Committee, to take the control of the Central Guard Bureau (CGB) from Xi. The tweet was posted on 22 September. The account has over 20,000 followers.

The rumours were fueled further when some claimed that a few flights in and out of Beijing were said to be cancelled as were some trains and buses.

On China's social media, there was no specific mention of the coup rumours.However, a Weibo hashtag related to "airports across the country cancel flights" was viewed by more than 200,000 people over the weekend.

Notably, flights were canceled when there were rise in Coivd cases in the country.

What's the truth?

Drew Thompson, who is a scholar with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said a coup in China wasn't entirely implausible. Thompson mentioned that Xi had reportedly shown concern about the prospect in the past, but the weekend's rumours looked more like "wishful thinking".

They appeared to originate in accounts associated with the Falun Gong movement, which Thompson said was "essentially not credible".

"The rumour that Xi Jinping has been arrested has legs because it is such a sensitive political moment in China, and the recent trials (and convictions) of long-serving senior officials creates a hothouse atmosphere," he said on Twitter.

Other analysts like Sinocism author, Bill Bishop, said he thought the rumours were "BS" but the "inherent opacity" of the CCP mechanisms easily fuelled their spread.

Xi's absence fuelled rumours

The Chinese president has been absent from the public eye since he returned to China from the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan. Some say he might be quarantined, considering the dire Covid situation in China. It surely doesn't mean there's a military coup.

"I think the fact this rumour spread so far, and was considered plausible enough to analyse is really a reflection of an underlying shortcoming of Chinese governance," said Thompson.

Role of social media

It also leads to one question whether or not the public should believe what social media has to offer. As in this case, the rumours related to the "China coup" could have led to national security issues and a state of chaos and disorder.

The role of social media has also been questioned in the case as the rumours were circulating for several days and the misleading tweets are still live. What are tech giants doing to curb the spread of this fake news?

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