Date for the funeral of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang who died of heart attack at the age of 68 in Shanghai on October 27, has not yet been announced. The former Chinese Premier who was known for his economic knowledge and speaking truth, no matter how harsh they were, was far more popular than any contemporary Chinese leader.
What has, however, surprised China watchers is that Li Keqiang, a soft-spoken leader, who was called “the people’s premier,” died soon after China officially sacked Defence Minister Li Shangfu and Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
As such, the ex-Chinese Premier’s sudden death has added to sensitivity in China where outpourings of sadness and shock on social media by people for the departed leader, are being closely monitored.
A hashtag related to his death on the country’s social media platforms like Weibo generated over one billion views in just a few hours. Social media users in their posts extolled virtues of the ex-Chinese Premier and called his death a great loss to the nation.
To ensure that stability across the nation is not disturbed, Chinese authorities have, as per BBC, launched a crackdown on VPN use to deny citizens access to the parts of the internet not controlled by them. China’s ruling dispensation does not want public mourning for a liberal, reform-oriented former number two leader who was always sidelined by President Xi Jinping.
At the official level, Beijing has chosen to be cryptic and brief on the passing away of the former Chinese Premier.
On October 27, when media persons, during a regular press briefing of China’s Foreign Ministry, asked Spokesperson Mao Ning to share her comment on Li Keqiang’s sudden death, she said, “We deeply mourn for Comrade Li Keqiang who passed away due to a sudden heart attack.” Then she referred to the state-backed news agency Xinhua for an obituary on the ex-Premier.
South China Morning Post said China is handling Li Keqiang’s death very cautiously as it occurred at a very young age, given Chinese leaders’ longevity. Li was among very few Chinese leaders who died before reaching the age of 70. In fact, due to comprehensive medical care and security privileges provided to Chinese leaders even after their retirement, most stay healthy and live well beyond 90, or even 100.
Well dietary priorities are also considered as the reason for the Chinese leaders’ longevity. In an interview with People’s Daily in 2012, Zeng Xuyuan, ex-Director of the Beijing Hospital’s nutrition department, said Chinese leaders eat 25 kinds of food every day to keep themselves healthy.
In 2022, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin died at the age of 96, while former Prime Minister Li Peng died at the age of 90 in 2019. Before Li, former executive Vice-Premier Huang Ju was another Chinese leader who died at the age of 68 in 2007, the Hong Kong- based English daily newspaper said.
However, in the wake of Li Keqiang’s death, China wants to maintain some extra caution and does not want to see repeat of the 1989 like incident when Beijing mercilessly crushed students-led protests that erupted soon after the death of Hu Yaobang, a Communist veteran, on April 15, 1989. A passionate liberaliser, Hu relentlessly sought to do away with ideological shibboleths of the Maoist era.
In 1987, he was removed from the post of General Secretary of the CPC for having sympathy for students’ demand for democratic reform. In 1989, his death at the age of 73, triggered an avalanche of public grief. A week after the death, about 100,000 students took out a protest march towards Tiananmen Square in a powerful display of anger, sadness, and sympathy for Hu.
According to BBC, public mourning for Hu turned into several weeks of student-led pro- democracy protests and hunger strikes, which finally ended with a harsh military crackdown on June 4 that year. Chinese authorities fear that China, which is facing huge economic problems with the government putting a curb on the release of unemployment figures since August, may slide into a similar situation if public mourning is allowed for Li who was highly popular among youth of the country.
Unlike President Xi, the child of an influential Chinese Communist Party leader, ex- Premier Li came from the poverty-stricken province of Anhui with a humble background. And yet he was highly talented who was, under the shadow of President Xi, never got a chance to “implement his economic philosophy fully, which was based on three pillars: “Ending fiscal stimulus, deleveraging, and structural reforms,” Asia Times said.
For him, ideology was not as important as pragmatism. A realist to the core, his measurement of economic growth was not through the readings of GDP figures, but by ground-level developments like railway cargo volume, electricity consumption and bank loan disbursements. Although he did not directly raise questions on Xi’s draconian zero- Covid approach, he was unhappy with its brutal impact on ordinary citizens’ life and economy, ABC News said.
In May 2022, while virtually addressing 100,000 government and business representatives, he said, “Development is the basis and key to solving all problems in China.” He further added, “To do a good job of epidemic prevention and control, we need financial and material resources. We need development to support stable employment, people’s livelihoods, and risk prevention.”
Whatever he said never got implemented under Xi’s regime. In the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee of the CPC, he was the lone voice who could speak the truth. For this, he paid a heavy price as he was politically sidelined and allowed to retire from public life despite being not overaged.
This is the reason why his sudden death has generated a wave of condolences and sympathy. But this has become a cause for concern for Chinese authorities. At the core of their cautious handling of Li’s death lies their fear about the possibility of a repeat of the 1989 like situation.
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