Never pay any attention to all the ridiculous media stories about how Putin has leprosy or Xi has been replaced by a Google-powered robot. There was never any sort of coup in Beijing and Xi is fine. It was just the usual wordspellers engaged in their futile attempts to alter reality through magical thinking and mass propaganda.
Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping made his first public appearance in nearly two weeks, terminating an absence that fueled a storm of unsubstantiated rumors regarding his whereabouts. Xi, who leads China as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, visited an exhibition in Beijing on Sept. 27, according to Chinese state-owned media.
The event was Xi’s first public appearance since returning to China from a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan earlier in the month.
Xi had met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an unofficial ally, during that summit. The two leaders reaffirmed their nations’ support for one another in the face of mounting resistance from the West regarding China’s plans for Taiwan and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
My assumption is that Xi has been occupied with overseeing the coordination of China’s next move with the coming Russian offensive. This would be an ideal time to open the second front, after Russia ties down US forces in Eastern Europe. Both Xi and Putin know that the USA is no longer equipped to fight two first-tier opponents at the same time, and I assume that Putin would not have proceeded with the four referendums without an assurance from Xi that China will enter the conflict in a meaningful manner.