China: Speculation about the health of President Xi Jinping

Xi in the White House

A detail triggers speculation about his health

In the USA there is mystery about the health of China’s Xi Jinping. There were already speculations about the guest from Beijing at the Brics summit.

After visiting Xi Jinping in Washington There have been speculations in the United States about the state of health of the Chinese head of state and party. The background is a special retreat room in the White House for the guest Chinawhich apart from Xi, 73, only his wife Peng Liyuan was allowed to enter. The Wall Street Journal quoted former National Security Council official Dennis Wilder as saying, “This is very unusual.”

Trump received Xi in Washington in September. Both politicians had already met in May Beijing met. Two more meetings are planned for this year: at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) in Shenzhen, China, and at the summit of the G20 states in a Trump golf club in Miami, US state Florida in December.

There was already speculation about Xi’s health Summit of the Brics states occurred. At that time, Xi stayed away from a heads of state and government dinner.

A video of a joint press conference between Xi and India’s host Narendra Modi at the Brics meeting in New Delhi also circulated on social media. Modi briefly interrupts his statement and asks if everything is okay. What triggered the scene initially remained unclear. Problems with the translation or the microphone were cited as possible causes. India’s foreign ministry later dismissed speculation about health problems among summit participants.

In contrast to the USA, where presidents undergo regular health checks, whose results are at least partially published, the health of China’s political personnel is a private and secret matter.

The question of Xi’s health is also so explosive because his successor is unclear.

At a meeting with the Russian head of state Vladimir Putin In 2025 they both joked about transplants and the possibility of reaching the age of 150.

Xi joked at the time: “70? That’s as old as a child.”