Li Keqiang, former premier of China, died aged 68 of a heart attack on Friday, Oct. 27.

“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,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Li was premier and head of China’s cabinet under Xi Jinping from 2013 to March 2023. He supported a more open market economy, advocating supply-side reforms in an approach dubbed “Likonomics” that was never fully implemented. In the early years, he had been supportive of policies which allowed more space to the non-state actors and further marketisation. As a vice premier in charge of economic affairs from 2007 to 2012, he referred to the need for the country to open up more spaces for growth, through developing its healthcare sector and building better quality infrastructure. He also pushed for removing restrictions on the flow of people and goods within China.

During the decades under his stewardship, the economy continued to grow around 6% a year. His technocratic ability, his reputation for being uncorrupt and his work ethic made him a contender for central leadership. But his fate was sealed when he emerged at the 17th Party Congress in 2007 that placed Xi in the communist hierarchy.

To this day, it is not known how Xi managed to gain the central position.

Gradually, his career spent in the shadow of Xi. Party meetings in 2013 and 2014 committed to a development framework under which the market should happen under the guiding hand of the state. Anti-corruption campaigns, ideology training and the primacy of the Communist party above all else became the new central tenets.

He sparked yet another debate on poverty and income inequality in 2020 when he told reporters that more than 600 million people in China still had a monthly income of barely 1,000 yuan ($137) — which he pointed out was not enough to rent a room in a medium-sized Chinese city.

In August 2022, Li made a speech echoing that of Deng Xiaoping who brought transformational reform to China’s economy, stating that “reforms and opening will not stop. The Yangtze and Yellow River will not reserve course.” Video clips of the speech went viral on social media but were later censored due to its implied criticism of Xi’s policies.

Li also inspired the unofficial “Li Keqiang Index.” In a U.S. State Department cable released by WikiLeaks, Li was quoted telling diplomats that Chinese economic growth statistics were ‘‘man-made,’’ and saying he looked instead to electricity demand, rail cargo traffic, and lending as more accurate indicators.

On Covid-19 policies, he was more openly critical of Xi’s stringent approach. He acknowledged business impact of lockdowns and frequently visited places experiencing food shortages and growing desperation, thus making him more favourable on social media.

After the announcement of his death, some social media users mentioned a song called “Sorry it wasn’t you” in a reference of Xi. Similar posts were immediately erased. The song went viral around the death of former President Jiang Zemin in November last year before being censored.

A cura di Xiaojie Je