KNews.id- Chinese President Xi Jinping is reportedly suffering from a deadly brain aneurysm as well as a coup threat from his rival. Reporting from The Sun, Monday (16/5), the 68-year-old leader wants to be treated with traditional medicine rather than undergoing major surgery.
According to news agency ANI, Xi suffered a “cerebral aneurysm” in late 2021. Rumors about Xi’s state of health have been circulating for years. Speculation has intensified over his unexplained absence from the Beijing Winter Olympics.
In March 2019, during visits to Italy and France, Xi appeared to be limping and needed help trying to sit up. And speaking publicly in Shenzhen in October 2020 – at the height of the Covid pandemic – observers noted his slow, coughing speech.President Xi is also currently reportedly under threat of a coup d’etat over his extreme Covid lockdown measures. And this week, the Politburo Standing Committee warned citizens not to question the strict policies that have locked down cities across the country.
At the same time, Premier Li Keqiang sounded the alarm over China’s “complicated and serious” employment situation caused by the lockdown measures.
Bloomberg reports that Xi and Li were once considered rivals for the top spot. Richard McGregor, author of The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers, also saw the phenomenon of the competition between the two elites.
“It might be an exaggeration to say that Xi and Li are personally at odds, but their statements do represent different views within the system about Covid and its effects,” he explained.
Experts have claimed Xi could be ousted by a rival fed up with the country’s regime within the next 18 months. Roger Garside – author of China Coup: The Great Leap to Freedom – said Xi would be expelled by internal opponents within the Chinese Communist Party in a coup in Beijing. The former diplomat believes that the main threat to Xi will come from the Communist Party “top brass”.
He said China’s zero-Covid policy could be Xi’s downfall as his over-the-top strategy has “locked the country into isolation” from the rest of the world.”It’s conceivable that their Covid-19 strategy would explode or cause a political crisis,” Garside told The Sun. (Ade)
