China’s Former Premier Li Keqiang Dies at 68: State Media

Then-Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks as he arrives for the Inaugural Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing, China on Jan. 16, 2016. (Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/Getty Images)

Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang has died of a sudden heart attack, according to China’s state-run media.

Mr. Li, 68, was once the second most powerful political figure in China behind Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He was premier from March 2013 until March this year, when he retired.

According to China’s state-run media, Mr. Li was taking a rest in Shanghai in the days before the sudden heart attack on Oct. 26. He passed away 10 minutes past midnight on Oct. 27, local time, after unsuccessful “all-out efforts” to revive him.

Mr. Li was a member of a political faction in China known as “tuanpai,” or the Youth League Faction, in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

During the Chinese regime’s 20th Party Congress in October last year, Mr. Li and another “tuanpai” member, Wang Yang, were not renamed to the regime’s new Central Committee, a 200-plus-member body comprised of the Party elite, in a leadership shuffle. At the time, Mr. Wang was the head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body.

Both Mr. Li and Mr. Wang were subsequently not included in the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the most powerful decision-making body within the Chinese regime.

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Li Linyi, a China affairs commentator based in the United States, previously told The Epoch Times that the exit of Mr. Li and Mr. Wang could be seen as a political victory for Mr. Xi.

Mr. Xi secured an unprecedented third five-year term in October last year, meaning he will remain in power until at least 2028.

Mr. Li was an economist who graduated from China’s Peking University. As premier, he once guided China’s economy, but he was sidelined from that position in recent years.

In 2020, Mr. Li memorably said at a press conference that about 600 million Chinese citizens earned only 1,000 yuan ($140) a month, a statement acknowledging serious economic problems within China.

Belt and Road Initiative

In 2013, soon after becoming China’s premier, Mr. Li went on a four-nation tour—India, Pakistan, Switzerland, and Germany. While in Pakistan, he characterized the relationship between Beijing and Islamabad as “all-weather friends.”

“We are ready to work with Pakistan to speed up the project of upgrading the Karakoram Highway, actively explore and develop the long-term plans of building a China-Pakistan economic corridor, expanding our shared interests,” Mr. Li said in an address at the time.

The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is Mr. Xi’s flagship initiative of building up Beijing’s geopolitical influence around the world by financing infrastructure projects. Critics have said that the CCP put participating nations in unsustainable debt obligations.

Chinese Leader Xi Jinping (L) and Premier Li Keqiang sing the national anthem at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of China's entry into the Korean War, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Oct. 23, 2020. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

In March, China, Pakistan, and the Taliban agreed to extend the BRI to Afghanistan. Experts said the agreement was an indication of China seeing Afghanistan as a priority area for its economic expansion. Earlier this month, the Taliban indicated it planned to formally join the BRI.

Also in March, just days before his retirement, Mr. Li met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in China. According to China’s state-run media, Mr. Lukashenko told Mr. Li that Belarus would like to see the two nations deepen their cooperation.

In China, Mr. Lukashenko also met Mr. Xi, who touted the bilateral ties as an “unbreakable” friendship, according to China’s state-run media.

Mr. Li had a long political career. Before becoming premier, he was the first vice-premier from March 2008 to March 2013. Prior to that, he had been party secretary in China’s Liaoning and Henan Provinces.