Claim: Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly suffered a stroke during a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in July, as seen in a photo.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video bearing the claim has 374,924 views and 1,019 comments as of writing. It was posted on July 31 by a channel with 444,000 subscribers.
The video shows a photo of Xi with his eyes closed while a narrator says, “Kitang kita sa litrato ang mukha ng presidente pagkatapos uminom mula sa tasa [at] tila namimilipit sa sakit. At hindi lang iyan, isang netizen ang nagsabi na may nakakita na umano na nahulog pa sa upuan ng presidente at inagapan agad at isinugod sa ospital.”
(It’s clear from the photo that the president appeared to be in pain after drinking from a cup. One netizen mentioned that someone saw him fall off his chair and was rushed to the hospital.)
The video’s thumbnail also has a photo of a man, implied to be Xi, lying on a hospital bed.
Similar posts can also be found on X (formerly Twitter). Rumors of the Chinese president’s condition circulated on X on July 18, when user @CheekyLady1027 uploaded a photo showing Xi seemingly wincing in pain after drinking from a cup and another of supposed medical staff coming to his aid.
The facts: Contrary to the claim, Xi did not suffer a stroke and there are no official reports from the Chinese government of him being in the hospital.
Old photos: The photos shown in the video date back to March and were taken out of context.
The photo of Xi drinking from a cup was taken by the Associated Press during a plenary session in Beijing. The photo is captioned: “Chinese President Xi Jinping, rear, reacts after drinking from a cup at the closing session of the National People’s Congress held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Monday, March 11, 2024.”
The other photo supposedly showing medical staff was taken on the same day by Agence France-Presse. Contrary to the claim, the photo simply shows two female staff members who checked Xi’s desk before the closing session.
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No evidence: The misleading images alleging Xi’s poor health circulated as top officials gathered in Beijing on July 15 for a major meeting — the third plenum of China’s ruling Communist Party — held every five years.
It’s unlikely that Xi was hospitalized during this time as TV footage from China Central Television shows Xi in good health at the party plenum.
Held from July 15 to 18, the plenum aimed to lay out China’s social and economic policies. Analysts, however, said there were no signs of major policy shifts in the document published after the meeting. – Luis Garcia/Rappler.com
Luis Garcia is a research volunteer at Rappler. He is an incoming fourth-year BS Economics student at the University of the Philippines Diliman. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. Learn more about Rappler’s fact-checking mentorship program here.
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