Old Photo of Chinese Prez Xi Jinping Viral Amid Rumours of Him Having a Stroke

The photo is from 11 March 2024, and shows Xinping reacting after sipping from a cup.

Aishwarya Varma
WebQoof
Published:
<div class="paragraphs"><p>The photo is four months old and shows Xi Jinping reacting after taking a sip out of a cup.</p></div>
i

The photo is four months old and shows Xi Jinping reacting after taking a sip out of a cup.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

advertisement

A photo showing Chinese President Xi Jinping, sitting a table with his eyes squeezed shut, has gone viral on social media.

  • This photo is being shared after unverified rumours of Xinping having suffered a stroke during a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) meeting emerged on the internet.

The claim: The photo is being shared along with text about the Chinese president's rumoured stroke, which he is claimed to have had during the Third Plenum if the CCP's recent meeting in July 2024.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(Archives of more posts linking this photo to the rumour can be seen here and here.)

But...?: The image has no connection to the rumours.

  • It dates back to March 2024, and show Xinping reacting after sipping from a cup during a session of the National People's Congress.

How did we find out the truth?: We ran a reverse image search on the viral image using TinEye, which led us to the same photo on stock image website Alamy.

The text accompanying the image mentioned that it showed Xinping 'reacting' "after drinking from a cup," adding that the photo was taken on 11 March 2024.

The caption mentioned that the photo showed him "reacting" after sipping from a cup.

(Source: Alamy/Altered by The Quint)

It had credited the photograph to news agency Associated Press (AP).

We looked for the same photo using a date filter on AP's website, and found that it had been shared with the same caption and date stamp.

The photo showed Xinping on 11 March 2024.

(Source: AP/Altered by The Quint)

  • A video of the event shared on AP's verified YouTube channel showed Xinping behaving normally during the event, confirming that he did not show any signs of poor health on that day.

  • Visuals of Xinping standing, clapping, and speaking can be seen between the 3:10 and four minutes marks in this video.

Recent visuals: China's state-run China Global Network Television shared a video of Xinping on 20 July, which showed him standing and bowing.

  • In the video, Xinping offered condolences after the demise of former Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong.

Conclusion: An old photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping has gone viral amid rumours of him having had a stroke.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)

Published: undefined

ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL FOR NEXT