Tensions are ramping up in China ahead of the major Communist Party Congress next month that is expected to see President Xi Jinping given an unprecedented third term in office. The increasingly febrile atmosphere coincided with unusual rumours swirling online on Saturday about a potential military coup that had led to Mr Xi being put under house arrest. “There’s no evidence of a coup in China and no reason to even slightly think there has been one,” said Nathan Ruser, a China-focused researcher at the think-tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute. This week alone saw the culmination of the biggest purge in China’s security apparatus in years, ahead of a political reshuffle expected at the congress, slated to start on October 16. No Chinese leader has been given a third term in power since Chairman Mao Zedong.

Source: Stuff September 25, 2022 09:15 UTC