Has the clock run out on President Xi Jinping?

Good day all. There are a lot of rumors flying around and very few facts. Apparently, something is happening in the People’s Republic of China and the rumors are that Xi Jinping may be getting a 9mm retirement package.

As I said, there are a lot of rumors but little in the way of hard facts. As such, the 72 hour rule is now in effect, and could and probably will be extended. Here are some of the details I have from Newsmax:

Unsubstantiated speculation swirled Saturday morning that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been locked down in isolation amid a potential coup.

Far East expert Gordon Chang said the rumor is likely “untrue,” but he noted there is something unusual going on in China and “there is turbulence” among the Chinese Communist Party leadership.

“The lack of news from #China over the last few hours suggests coup rumors are untrue, but whatever happened inside the #Chinese military during the last three days — evidently something unusual occurred — tells us there is turbulence inside the senior #CCP leadership,” Chang tweeted Saturday morning.

There are a few possibilities of course. First, Xi Jinping is being removed by force. There has been a lot of issues inside China, all of it due to his actions. The economy is not doing as well as it once did, and he has been acting more and more like Mao. Another possibility is that President Xi is cleaning house, and getting rid of potential or actual political enemies.

There is one other possibility and this one is both very frightening and also highly unlikely. The People’s Republic of China is getting ready to invade Taiwan. Xi has made no secret of his desire to conquer Taiwan, but the actual ability of the PRC to invade the island and actually take it is very questionable.

Launching an invasion would be similar to the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944 or Okinawa in 1945. It will require massive amounts of supplies, as well as the transport needed to get those supplies and several hundred thousand troops across the Taiwan Strait. I won’t bother going into all the details, but China has been watching Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. Taiwan would be an even worse mess for the People’s Liberation Army. Taiwan has been preparing for decades for an invasion by China.

That tweet came after Friday night’s tweet suggesting where there is smoke, there is likely fire, according to Chang.

“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,” Chang tweeted. “There’s a lot of smoke, which means there is a fire somewhere inside the #CCP. #China is unstable.”

One of the things that does come to mind would be the crushing of the protesters in Tienanmen Square, but as far as I know, there is nothing going on that would require sending in troops. However, there are reports of a column heading into Beijing. Here are a few of those details from Newsweek:

Xi and the phrase #ChinaCoup trended on social media after tens of thousands of users spread unconfirmed rumors that the president was detained and overthrown by the China’s People’s Liberation Army. This speculation, which has not been discussed by any reputable sources, arrived as there are hardly any commercial flights flying over the capital of Beijing on Saturday, with unverified reports claiming all trains and buses are also being canceled out of Beijing.

There are also reports that some flights have been canceled but others are still leaving on schedule. There is also a rumor that there was a planned military exercise and this is what people are seeing.

A widely shared video posted on Twitter is also reported to show a line of military vehicles up to 80 kilometers long heading into Beijing amid reports of a military coup on September 22.

However, the video is less than one minute long so does not show if the line of military vehicles stretches 80 km. It is not confirmed when or where it was filmed, or that the convoy is heading into Beijing as part of a military coup.

That could be a “Deep Fake” put out by someone looking to troll the world. It might not even be happening.

The rumor was also fueled by Indian politician Subramanian Swamy, who tweeted to his 10 million followers on Saturday: “New rumour to be checked out: Is Xi Jingping [sic] under house arrest in Beijing ? When Xi was in Samarkand recently, the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party were supposed to have removed Xi from the Party’s in-charge of Army. Then House arrest followed. So goes the rumour.”

That can and should be taken with a grain of salt. China and India don’t really like or trust each other, so putting out a rumor of a coup with Xi being held under arrest somewhere could be nothing more than a conspiracy theory by Mr. Swamy.

In a series of tweets, Drew Thompson, a former Department of Defense official for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, describe the rumors as a “complete falsehood.”

“The rumor 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,” Thompson wrote.

“Open discussion of opposition to Xi makes the rumors plausible. Despite the lack of evidence that Xi faces internal opposition, speculation persists. This enhances plausibility of the rumor, or hope for some, that Xi gets arrested.”

I looked up Drew Thompson, and I question his flat out denial that anything is happening. He was in the Pentagon, but came in under Obama and was a holdover in the Trump Administration, leaving in 2018. He might have a dog in this hunt and his remarks should also be taken with a little salt.

Once again, I must state that we have few actual facts, just a ton of rumors. I suspect that if Xi was removed, we will find out sometime next week. If there was an attempt, it might still be on going. If this is all just a giant troll of the internet, then President Xi is relaxing somewhere and knocking back a few cold ones while laughing at all the internet idiots. One way or another, we will find out what is going on in the next few days.

Thatisall