Fact Check: Old video of Xi Jinping resurfaces amid ongoing China-Taiwan tensions
A video of Chinese president Xi Jinping addressing the military has gone viral.
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 23 Oct 2024 9:13 AM GMT
Claim: The video shows Xi Jinping instructing his army to prepare for war against Taiwan.
Fact: The claim is false. The video is from 2018.
Hyderabad: Amid rising tensions between China and Taiwan, China recently conducted large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, simulating a full-scale attack. This happened shortly after Taiwanese president William Laiās first National Day speech, undermining Chinaās claim over the self-governing island.
Amid this, a video claiming to show Chinese president Xi Jinping asking his army to be ready for war against Taiwan has gone viral.
An X user shared the video with the caption, āWhy would China stay behind? Chinese President Xi Jinping has also asked his army to be ready for war. It seems China is now in the mood to take action regarding Taiwan.ā (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)
The 1:40-minute montage shows Xi Jinping addressing the army at a public military drill, allegedly giving an order for readiness. The video includes a portion where Xi says, āHere I give my orders: the military at all levels should strengthen military training and war preparedness, place military training at a strategic position, and effectively implement military training as its central task.ā
Similar posts can be seen here and here. (Archive), (Archive).
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video is from 2018.
A reverse image search of the video led us to a Facebook post from April 24, 2018, titled, āThe army that scares the West.ā
This indicated that the video is not recent but from six years ago.
Through a keyword search, we found a video report by the Guardian from January 4, 2018, titled, āChinese army puts on show of military might for Xi Jinping.ā
The report, with the same viral video, stated that Xi Jinping addressed 7,000 military personnel in Hebei Province, emphasising the importance of real-combat training and war preparedness.
A related report by Xinhuanet, published on January 3, 2018, confirmed that Xi urged the military to focus on real-combat training during a mobilisation meeting held by the commission.
The report mentioned that Xi Jinping, dressed in military uniform, stepped onto the review platform at the main site where over 7,000 military officers and soldiers, along with nearly 300 pieces of weaponry, were assembled in formation at the Central Theatre Command range. This was the commissionās first-ever mobilisation meeting for the entire armed forces.
However, none of these reports specifically quote Xi mentioning Taiwan.
Although China has consistently maintained its claim over Taiwan and tensions have been high for many decades, there was no active war between China and Taiwan in 2018.
Hence, the viral video of Xi Jinping asking his army to be ready for war is from 2018 and is unrelated to the current situation with Taiwan. The claim is false.
