China's former Premier Li Keqiang dies at 68: State media

China’s former Premier Li Keqiang has died at the age of 68, according to the Chinese state media reports. The cause of his death is said to be a sudden heart attack.

The former Chinese premier and head of China’s cabinet served under President Xi Jinping for a decade starting in 2013 before his retirement earlier this year.

What happened?

According to the state media, he was in Shanghai on a holiday when he suffered a sudden heart attack and passed away the next day.

“Comrade Li Keqiang, while resting in Shanghai in recent days, experienced a sudden heart attack on Oct. 26 and after all-out efforts to revive him failed, died in Shanghai at ten minutes past midnight on Oct. 27,” said state broadcaster CCTV.

His political career

Between 2013-23, Li was said to be China’s No. 2 leader but had increasingly been sidelined in recent years by Xi who has steered the world’s second-largest economy in a more statist direction.

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Li, who served as the country’s premier – traditionally in charge of the economy – was an English-speaking economist andwas once considered a contender to take over after then-Communist Party leader Hu Jintao in 2013 but was passed over in favour of Xi.

Notably, the elite economist was seen as a supporter of a more liberal market economy.

In 2014, in his first annual policy address, he was reportedly praised for promising to pursue market-oriented reform, cut government waste, and get rid of corruption that was undermining public faith in the Communist Party.

He once served as a provincial leader in Henan in central China between 1998 and 2004. However, his term was marred by his reputation for bad luck after three fatal fires struck Henan during his time in office as well as an accusation of cracking down after an AIDS scandal.

About Li

Li was born on July 1, 1955, in the eastern province of Anhui, a poor farming area where his father was an official. He went on to study at the prestigious Peking University.

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During this time, Li befriended several pro-democracy advocates, some of whom would go on to directly challenge the party’s control.

Following his graduation, Li joined the Communist Party’s Youth League from where he climbed the ladder to higher office. At the time, Li was also completing a master’s degree in law and went on to pursue an economics doctorate under Professor Li Yining, a well-known advocate of market reforms.

(With inputs from agencies)