Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang dies of heart attack at 68

Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang dies of heart attack

Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang died on October 27 after suffering a heart attack. Li served as premier during President Xi Jinping's first two five-year terms and was 68 years old.

A career bureaucrat who spoke fluent English, Li had voiced support for economic reforms during his time in office. He was praised for helping to steer the country through the global financial crisis relatively unscathed.

Once viewed as a top Communist Party leadership contender, Li was sidelined in recent years by President Xi Jinping, who tightened his grip on power and steered the world's second-largest economy in a more statist direction.

"No matter how the international winds and clouds change, China will unswervingly expand its opening up." Li had said at his last public appearance in a press conference in March, as per Reuters.

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As the top economic official, Li promised to improve conditions for entrepreneurs who generate jobs and wealth. He sparked debate on poverty and income inequality in 2020, saying 600 million people in China earned less than the equivalent of $140 per month.

Li was born in Anhui province in eastern China, a poor farming area where his father was an official and where he was sent to toil in the fields during the Cultural Revolution.

He studied law at the prestigious Peking University and joined the Communist Party's Youth League, then a reformist-tinged ladder to higher office, after graduation.

The appointment of Xi ally Li Qiang -- former Shanghai party boss -- as his successor this year was seen as a sign that his reformist agenda had fallen by the wayside as Beijing tightens its grip over its slowing economy.

(With agency inputs)