In Shangai on Friday, the former Chinese premier Li Keqiang, a reform-minded bureaucrat who was once tipped as the country’s future leader, died at the age of 68, after experiencing a heart attack, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
In contrast to his more inflexible colleagues, Li presented himself during his ten years under Xi as a modern Communist Party loyalist, a career bureaucrat who spoke English fluently, and an advocate of economic liberalization.
More about Li Keqiang
The son of a minor party official in eastern China’s poor Anhui province, Li was sent to the countryside to work as a manual labourer during the tumultuous Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976, AFP reported.
According to his peers, Li, who graduated from Peking University with a law degree, translated a book on law written by a British judge and adopted liberal and Western political ideology.
He worked as a bureaucrat during the Tiananmen Square protests in the mid-1980s, although he eventually adopted a more traditional role.
Li ascended to the position of top official in the ruling Communist Party in the northeastern province of Liaoning and the province of Henan, both of which saw economic boom. However, during his tenure as party chief in Henan, his management of an HIV/AIDS outbreak resulting from a corrupt blood donation scheme tarnished his reputation.
Li later rose through the ranks to become Wen Jiabao’s deputy.
His attempts to address China’s severe economic problems were thwarted by Xi’s immense power.
