Beijing Seeks to Suppress Public Grief of the Regime’s Former Premier

The mourning of Mr. Li is somewhat similar to that of Hu Yaobang in 1989, who also died of a heart attack and whose death triggered the pro-democracy protests.

China's Premier Li Keqiang speaks during a news conference following the closing of the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on March 20, 2018. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

The body of the deceased Chinese former premier Li Keqiang arrived in Beijing on the evening of Oct. 27 and is now at a Chinese military hospital. The Chinese regime ramped up its security in the communist nation’s capital to prevent potential social unrest as a result of the public’s outpouring of grief. The atmosphere in Beijing is as if it is under martial law.

Although the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that Mr. Li died of a heart attack, this has been under broad scrutiny by the Chinese public. Mr. Li fell from grace and was removed from his position at the top of the CCP earlier this year, which led to a lot of unproven speculation that his death may have been a political assassination. Many viewed Mr. Li as a moderate force within the CCP, as opposed to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s fundamentalist communism and authoritarianism. Mr. Li’s former residence in Hefei, Anhui province, was surrounded by a sea of flowers, but no large-scale memorial activities were reported in Beijing due to the strict censorship and security measures from the CCP. Online photos from social media showed that some flowers and cards were laid at Mr. Li’s alma mater, Peking University.

Tense Atmosphere in Beijing

On Oct. 29, The Epoch Times received insider information from a source that Beijing is essentially under martial law, except that the authorities have not formally announced it. Heavily armed police from surrounding provinces have been deployed to Beijing in large numbers.