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Chinese President Xi coughs violently throughout the speech, prompting speculation about his health, as state media cuts each time he is forced to stop speaking.
- Xi Jinping delivered a speech to party faithful in Shenzhen on Wednesday.
- Towards the end of his speech, he was seen and heard coughing repeatedly
- The cameras separated from the president, but he was heard babbling on the audio
- Episode promoted its critics to speculate if it has coronavirus
Chinese President Xi Jinping has been caught coughing during a speech to his cronies, prompting speculation about his health.
The communist leader could be heard coughing repeatedly during the last ten minutes of a speech in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, on Wednesday.
State television repeatedly backed away from Xi during the coughing spells, but caught the moment he put his hand to his mouth.
Xi Jinping was caught coughing repeatedly during the final minutes of a speech to party worshipers in Shenzhen on Wednesday.
The audio also captured the president babbling and drinking from a glass of water to clear his throat.
The images were seized upon by critics of Xi, particularly those in Hong Kong, who speculated on his health amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Both Apple TV, a media outlet of the pro-Hong Kong anti-communist party, and Taiwanese television stations broadcast the images, noting that Xi “repeatedly coughed.”
Apple TV also suggested that Xi subsequently shortened his trip and returned to Beijing, although MailOnline was unable to verify this.
Meanwhile, The Epoch Times, which is linked to the heavily persecuted religious group Falun Gong, openly questioned whether Xi has the virus.
His visit to Shenzen came in the middle of a tour of southern China, where he has been photographed meeting crowds without a mask, albeit always from a distance.
China officially reports about a dozen cases of the virus a day, and while those numbers are subject to doubt, the recovery in the country’s economy suggests the virus is far from rampant.
The episode, while brief, sparked speculation that Xi is unwell among his critics, and even suggested that he might have coronavirus.
That makes it extremely unlikely that Xi contracted the virus, although China’s rush to censor his cough shows how politically sensitive the issue is.
Beijing has wanted to show its strength to respond to the disease, amid accusations that missteps and cover-ups early on allowed the disease to spread internationally, eventually reaching every country in the world.
An outbreak of just 13 cases in Qingdao over the weekend was enough to spark a massive test response that saw everyone in the port city cleaned up.
Officials claimed to have tested 10 million people on Thursday without detecting more cases of the virus, well beyond the testing capabilities of other countries.
Xi’s speech in Shenzhen marked the 40th anniversary of the declaration of the former fishing village as the first place in China to allow free enterprise.
During his speech, Xi promised to relax regulations to encourage new industries.
China reports about a dozen cases of the virus per day, which means it is extremely unlikely that Xi contracted it (file image)
He also called for “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” and “optimize and improve production.”
China is trying to capitalize on the global economic slowdown caused by the virus to increase its own global position.
The country is expected to grow its economy this year, despite previous lockdowns, while most of the other world economies are forecast to contract or stagnate.
Shenzhen has become a symbol of that growth, going from a village of 30,000 inhabitants in 1980 to around 13 million today.
Its economic output of 2.7 trillion yuan ($ 400 billion) last year was higher than that of South Africa, a country of 58 million people.
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