2023-10-27 10:13:05
BEIJING (AP) — Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the country’s top economic official for a decade, died Friday of a heart attack. He was 68 years old.
Li was the second most powerful politician in China between 2013 and 2023 and a champion of private enterprise, but his authority was undermined when President Xi Jinping became the most powerful Chinese leader in decades and redoubled control. about the economy and society.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, Li had been resting in Shanghai recently and suffered a heart attack on Thursday. She passed away at 12:10 a.m. on Friday.
In 2013, Li, an English-speaking economist, was on the list of contenders to succeed then-Communist Party leader Hu Jintao, but was passed over in favor of Xi. Reversing the consensus-oriented leadership of Hu’s era, Xi centralized power in his own hands and removed influence from Li and the other seven members of the formation’s Standing Committee.
As the country’s top economic official, Li promised to improve conditions for entrepreneurs who generate jobs and wealth. But with Xi at the reins, the party expanded its dominance of state industry and control over technology and other industries. Foreign companies said they did not feel welcome after Xi and other leaders advocated for economic self-sufficiency, expanded anti-espionage laws and registered consulting offices.
Li was removed from the Standing Committee at the party congress in October 2022 and left office in March 2023, two years shy of the informal retirement age of 70.
He is survived by his wife, Cheng Hong, a professor of English at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing. The couple has a daughter, according to previous reports in the state press.
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