Speculations over Chinese Premier Xi Jinping’s health condition have been rife over several media reports after it was reported that Jinping kept coughing violently throughout his address at a Chinese Communist Party event held in Shenzhen in Guangdong province on October 14. As per a report in WION, this episode has prompted discussions regarding whether the Chinese President has contracted coronavirus.
Jinping was delivering a speech. According to reports, Jinping could hardly speak because he was interrupted by constant coughing. He kept sipping water to relieve his cough but it did not seem to help. The state TV camera covering the event moved away from the Chinese president and focused on the audience whenever he suffered from bouts of cough but the noise of him coughing could be heard clearly.
According to Hong Kong Apple Daily, the Chinese President was speaking at an event marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Economic Zone. While the people seated in the audience were wearing masks, Jinping was there without a mask. Other guests seated with him on the stage including the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam, were also not wearing masks. The President spoke for 50 minutes and coughed repeatedly. The reports also said that the Chinese President had visited Chaozhou and Shantou earlier this week as part of his southbound tour but, contrary to the tradition, he did not interact closely with people on the streets.
Speculations about Jinping’s Health
The incident has given rise to speculations regarding Jinping’s health as the risk of the Chinese virus still looms around. However, it is too rich to expect transparency from China regardless of whether Jinping is positive for the virus or not. Jinping had reportedly disappeared from the public view on two occasions during the outset of the Wuhan virus outbreak.
Many world leaders have been found positive for the Wuhan virus so far including the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the US President Donald Trump, Iranian Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar and the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.