Change at the top in China soon?

[william]

According to witnesses, after Xi Jinping returned to China from India, his plane arrived at Beijing Airport, and he was carried off the plane and taken away by a military helicopter. He was then rushed to Beijing 301 Hospital for emergency treatment.

Previously, when Xi Jinping returned to Beijing from abroad, a large number of officials would greet him at the airport, and the streets along the route would be temporarily closed before he returned to Zhongnanhai by car. However, this time, when Xi Jinping arrived at Beijing Airport, there was no large number of officials to greet him, no welcoming ceremony, and no grand motorcade, nor any temporary street closures. Instead, he was directly picked up by a military helicopter and rushed to Beijing 301 Hospital for emergency treatment.

The scene surrounding Xi Jinping's arrival at Beijing Airport illustrates three points:

First, Xi's condition is extremely serious, bordering on urgent, requiring immediate hospitalization.

Second, the Beijing authorities' decision not to deploy a large number of officials and welcoming personnel to the airport is an attempt to tightly control news of Xi's critical illness.

Third, Xi's security has been taken over by the military, or is currently under their control.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2099717945517641997

Beijing 301 Hospital for emergency treatment.Previously, when Xi Jinping

• The post by @xie_wanjun, Chairman of the overseas China Democracy Party opposition group, claims Xi Jinping was carried off his plane upon return from the September 2026 BRICS Summit in India and rushed by military helicopter to Beijing 301 Hospital, with no officials greeting him or motorcade.
• It references unusual security and protocol changes to argue Xi's condition is critical, news is suppressed, and military now controls his security, accompanied by an image from the summit showing Modi asking Xi "Is it OK?" during opening remarks.
• Xi did appear uncomfortable at the summit, skipped Modi's gala dinner citing fatigue, and returned to Beijing on September 13 per official Chinese media, but no mainstream sources confirm the hospitalization claim amid ongoing unverified health rumors. Grok

 

[william]

There is also this

Xi Jinping flew to the BRICS summit expecting a coronation. He left within 24 hours looking like the biggest loser in the room.

China wanted BRICS to become Xi’s anti-American coalition: reject the dollar, embrace RMB settlement, and announce that the “Eastern era” had arrived.

Instead, India refused to play along. Modi publicly distanced BRICS from any anti-Western agenda. Indian officials denied supporting a common BRICS currency. The summit declaration emphasized diversified critical-mineral supply chains-a thinly veiled warning against China weaponizing rare earths.

Then came the optics.

Xi’s translator was filmed as he was being blocked from following Xi onto the red carpet. Modi interrupted proceedings to ask whether everything was “OK,” directing global attention toward Xi’s physical condition. Xi then skipped the official dinner and rushed home, while Modi and Putin held a warm 45-minute meeting and dominated the cameras.Xi imagined himself standing at the center of a new world order. Instead, he discovered that even among BRICS members, they only want Chinese trade, not Chinese leadership.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2099874231626699135

• The X post from @KenCao_onChina frames Xi Jinping's short appearance at the September 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi as a diplomatic setback, highlighting India's refusal to endorse de-dollarization, a common currency, or an anti-Western agenda.
• Verified reports confirm Xi stayed under 24 hours, skipped Modi's gala dinner due to travel fatigue, departed early, and engaged in a bilateral meeting focused on border peace and trade, while the New Delhi Declaration used cautious language avoiding direct conflict references or strong multipolar challenges to the West.
• The post underscores India's strategic autonomy—trading with Russia in multiple currencies, maintaining US ties, and addressing border issues—reflecting its approach of selective cooperation without ceding leadership to China in BRICS.

 

[DEFCON Warning System]

Even if they get a different leader, it is the same Party in control. I don't expect to see China change if there is a change of leader.

 

[Gaijin]

Even if they get a different leader, it is the same Party in control. I don't expect to see China change if there is a change of leader.

There are factions within the party, like any other. It is more than posible ('likely' has been said to me) that a more moderate faction is waiting in the wings, especially in relation to Taiwan. They (assuming that they win the power struggle) have also secured Xi's compliance even if not actual support.

 

[william]

Unusual rest breaks for Xi Jinping in Washington​

Chinese officials made unusual demands that the U.S. accommodate Xi Jinping’s need for rest during a summit with President Trump, offering a rare glimpse of the 73-year-old leader’s emerging physical limitations, said people familiar with the visit planning.

Chief among the requests was a private room inside the West Wing for Xi to take a break between events, with only his wife, Peng Liyuan, permitted to join him, the people said. No others from the Chinese delegation were allowed to use the “hold room,” as it was called—not even Cai Qi, Xi’s chief of staff, they added.

Beijing officials told their American counterparts they preferred more time for Xi to rest during his Washington visit, the people said. The result was a roughly five-hour gap in the summit agenda, a long stretch of downtime during a visit that lasted barely two days.

Xi received the full pageantry of a state visit: a 21-gun salute, a flyover of U.S. jet fighters and a stealth bomber and a gift in the form of a large bald eagle statue. But behind the stagecraft, his own team was building a schedule around how long he could stand, how far he could walk and when he would need to stop, the people said.

Dennis Wilder, a former senior China director at the National Security Council who organized three state visits during the George W. Bush administration, said the hold-room arrangement was unprecedented. “We never did anything like that. This is unusual.”

Xi’s health carries weight far beyond his personal well-being. He has concentrated more power than any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong and has designated no successor. China effectively has no institutionalized process for choosing a leader who holds Xi’s three important titles: Communist Party secretary-general, president and chairman of the China Central Military Commission.

Analysts specializing in Chinese leadership say they see no signs of cognitive decline in Xi’s public appearances.

“There is a huge difference between a leader who can’t function completely due to a severe stroke and a leader who is physically impaired but mentally can function,” said Minxin Pei, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College who studies Chinese elite politics.

Still, questions of succession pose risks even beyond China’s borders. Jockeying for power among those eager to succeed Xi, Pei said, could lead some factions to advocate aggressive policies to gain an edge in an internal-power struggle.

MSN