Peng Liyuan’s Reappearance May Be More Than Just Rumor Control

On July 17, Peng Liyuan appeared at the 2025 "Guling Friendship" U.S.-China Youth Exchange event hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. (Video screenshot)

[People News] On July 17, Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping, made a rare public appearance after a prolonged absence from the spotlight. Her disappearance had sparked widespread speculation, including rumours of her going missing or even divorcing Xi Jinping. Peng’s sudden reappearance at the "Guling Friendship" 2025 U.S.-China Youth Exchange event hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries raises the question: Was she trying to dispel these rumours?

According to Xinhua News Agency’s July 17 report, Peng Liyuan attended the event with Chinese and foreign guests, watched a video of the “Guling Friendship” U.S.-China Youth Choir Week, and delivered a speech.

The report also noted that U.S. “Friends of Guling” organisers, including Florence Mu and Sarah Behrens from Iowa, expressed their gratitude to Xi Jinping during the event.

In her speech, Peng Liyuan praised the friendship between the American and Chinese peoples and emphasised Xi Jinping’s policy of inviting 50,000 American youth to study and exchange in China over the next five years.

Since 2024, Peng had notably been absent from two major state visits: She did not accompany Xi on his April tour of three Southeast Asian countries, nor did she attend the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow. As public concern about her absence mounted, Peng unexpectedly appeared on May 13 to accompany the First Lady of Brazil on a tour of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, seemingly an effort to refute the rumours. Afterwards, aside from a possible appearance during Belarusian President Lukashenko’s June 4 visit, Peng was again absent during Xi’s June 16–18 participation in the Central Asia Summit in Kazakhstan, and remained out of sight until now.

During Peng’s absence, rumours circulated suggesting that she and Xi had agreed to divorce, fueling speculation about her whereabouts.

Independent political commentator Chen Pokong offered two interpretations of Peng’s latest appearance on his show.

First, he said, the widespread rumours surrounding Peng necessitated a strong denial, and her reappearance sends a clear message: she remains First Lady and her status is intact.

Second, Chen noted that Peng’s speech heavily emphasised U.S.-China friendship and Xi Jinping’s commitment to bilateral relations. He interpreted this as a signal that, amid an impending economic collapse and escalating U.S. tariffs, China is trying to curry favour with Washington. Chen added that many American experts believe that as long as Trump continues the trade and tariff war, China’s economy will completely collapse.

On July 15, Sheng Laiyun, Deputy Director of China’s National Bureau of Statistics, claimed that GDP for the first half of the year grew 5.3% year-on-year. The first quarter showed a 5.4% increase, and the second quarter grew by 5.2%.

Chen Pokong, however, argued that China’s economy is already collapsing and that the 5.3% figure is fabricated—“a blatant lie.”

On May 20, China’s National Bureau of Statistics unusually acknowledged that seven provinces and municipalities had falsified their statistics, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Shanxi, Hainan, Chongqing, and Ningxia.

Keith Naughton, co-founder of U.S. political consultancy Silent Majority Strategies, wrote in The Hill that China is facing a bursting real estate bubble, stagnant exports to its second-largest market (Europe), declining exports to its largest market (the U.S.), a shrinking population, and deflation. He found the CCP’s claim of 5.4% first-quarter GDP growth “incredible.”

Naughton noted that data manipulation is nothing new for the CCP. During the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, China claimed 2.2% GDP growth while the global economy shrank nearly 3%. Alternative indicators suggest China’s economy may have actually contracted in 2023, contrary to the government’s 5% growth target. A University of Chicago study indicated that China’s actual GDP could be 60% smaller than officially reported.

Naughton bluntly stated that whether it’s GDP, economic growth, inflation, or population statistics, CCP data is “tofu-dreg engineering” (a Chinese term for shoddy construction)—incapable of concealing the regime’s deep-rooted social problems.

Even well-known Chinese economist Gao Shanwen admitted in December last year that China’s GDP growth over the past 2–3 years has diverged significantly from consumption and investment trends. He estimated that actual GDP growth might have been overestimated by about 3 percentage points per year, putting real growth at just around 2%. For his remarks, Gao has since been silenced and punished on Xi Jinping’s orders.

According to Reuters, with weakening exports, continuing deflation, and persistently low consumer confidence, most analysts expect China’s economy to further weaken in the second half of 2025.

(First published by People News)