- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Open source intelligence analysts carried out an in-depth analysis of the massive rumours that took the internet by storm on Saturday (24) about a ‘coup’ happening in China against president Xi Jinping. The speculations were strengthened by reports of mass cancellation of flights; ‘explosions’ and movement of Chinese troops.
According to a report by The Tribune, India, it all started after “freelance journalist” Jennifer Zeng amplified in English the rumours that were in circulation on the Chinese-language Twitter since September 21.
It was not too long before a story started claiming that a former president and prime minister of China persuaded Song Ping, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee of China’s all-powerful Communist Party, to take control of the Central Guard Bureau as president Xi was put under house arrest on his return from the Samarkand summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on September 16.
The Tribune report added that details were floated to show that something sinister was happening and fake graphics were made to show cancellation of flights across China. A video of a huge explosion surfaced suggesting that a heavy fighting was going on in Beijing while another short one showed movement of troops, reportedly heading for the headquarters of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Zhongnanhai.
But analysts shot down these claims. They said the visuals of the explosions were actually of the one that happened in Tianjin seven years ago. Flight-tracking websites said everything was normal in China’s skies while the video of the movement of troops was found to be unrelated, the report added.
The analysts also found that a number of Twitter accounts with very low followers and without any connection to authentic media handles and some from Africa, were behind the spreading of the rumours. A number of right-wing Twitter handles from India, which has a not-so-smooth relation with China, also tweeted many of the coup claims and that added fuel to the fire.
Eventually, it turned out to be a false alarm.
