Rumors ahead of Trump meeting: What's going on with Xi?

The claims have not been confirmed and appear to have originated from critics of China’s Communist regime. The rumors emerged following a purge of military officials in China.

Xi, who is 73, is often the subject of speculation about his health due to censorship in China and the lack of independent media. However, the latest rumors have spread particularly widely.

Xi was last seen on Sunday at the BRICS summit in New Delhi, where he did not attend the official dinner hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Following this, claims began circulating that Xi had fallen ill and had been urgently returned to China for medical treatment.

Wanjun Xie, president of the Chinese Democracy Party, a banned opposition party founded by dissidents, supported the claims.

Xie, a former participant in the student protests, published a lengthy post in Chinese on the social media platform X, claiming that Xi fell ill during the opening ceremony of the BRICS summit and was immediately taken away from the venue to receive first aid.

He added that the Chinese leader was flown back to China, allegedly cutting short his visit to India.

The post was accompanied by a manipulated photo of Xi with his head lowered, appearing to be in pain. A speech bubble above Indian Prime Minister Modi read: “Is everything all right?”

The original post received 2.3 million views and was widely shared on X.

Since Monday, Xie has made several more posts claiming that Xi fell ill while in India and returned to China early, despite photos and videos showing that Xi was in India on both the first and second days of the summit.