Former Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang is dead. He suffered a sudden heart attack on Thursday and died in Shanghai at 12:10 a.m. (local time) on Friday after unsuccessful rescue attempts, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Li Keqiang stepped down as prime minister in March after ten years in office. He was 68 years old.
The son of an official, Li Keqiang was born on July 1, 1955 in Dingyuan, Anhui Province. Like other intellectuals, he had to go to the countryside in 1974 at the end of the Cultural Revolution. As one of only three percent of all applicants who made it through, he studied law at Peking University and received a doctorate in economics. In 1983, Li Keqiang worked in the Communist Youth League under his later sponsor, state and party leader Hu Jintao.
From prime minister to “lame duck”
But his rise to the top in Beijing began with a false start. The outgoing President Hu Jintao actually wanted to make his protégé a “strong man”. However, the plan failed because of the “Shanghai faction” around his powerful predecessor Jiang Zemin, who instead established Xi Jinping as the new leader. Li Keqiang was left behind, but at least became premier.
His luck continued to desert him as his patron Hu Jintao’s protection waned. Xi Jinping effectively disempowered the government by having party working groups and commissions take over government work under his leadership. So Li Keqiang became a “lame duck”. There have been rumors about his health for years. During his visits abroad, long rest breaks always had to be built into the program, diplomats reported in confidential conversations.
Warning words to the People’s Congress
In 2020, Li Keqiang struggled to combat the downturn caused by the Corona crisis by increasing government spending. “Extraordinary measures for unusual times,” he called it. In addition, the trade war with the USA caused problems for the second-largest economy. At that time, Li Keqiang warned the People’s Congress, saying: “At present and in the near future, China will face challenges like never before.”
