The sudden death of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made headlines around the world while mainland Chinese have eagerly discussed it online, attempting to find out the real cause of his death and whether there are any dark secrets behind it.
Death in Shanghai
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) official media announced that Mr. Li was “in Shanghai recently to relax” and passed away “at 12:10 a.m. on Oct. 27 due to a sudden heart attack that occurred on Oct. 26, despite all-out efforts to revive him.”Mr. Li, who was 68, was reportedly staying at Shanghai’s Dongjiao State Guest Hotel.
An unnamed medical professional in Shanghai told Radio Free Asia that Mr. Li had just arrived in Shanghai the day before his sudden heart attack.
Several Chinese-language posts on X, formerly Twitter, claimed that Mr. Li suffered a heart attack at around 11 a.m. on Oct. 26 while swimming in the hotel pool. The police and security guards immediately tried to resuscitate him and put him on the EMCO ventilator. He was then taken to the nearby Shuguang Hospital, and the incident was reported to Beijing at the same time.
Questionable Aspects
Chinese netizens have identified numerous suspicious points.
Another X post said that Shanghai’s Zhongshan Hospital ranks among the top three in China for cardiovascular disease emergency treatment and is a 23 to 30-minute drive from Mr. Li’s hotel. Anyone suffering from acute myocardial infarction (a heart attack), if taken to Zhongshan Hospital within two hours, the rescue success rate is as high as 96 percent.
However, Mr. Li was sent to Shanghai’s Shuguang Hospital for emergency treatment. According to online information, this hospital specializes in preventive health care and respiratory medicine.
“This is a very suspicious point. If Li Keqiang was indeed taken to this hospital for rescue, was it meant to save or harm his life?” one of the pundits on X asked.
“The Director of the Central Office, the Director of the Central Health Bureau, and Li Keqiang’s health care doctor all bear unshirkable responsibility!”
Many others have shared similar views on Chinese social media, with more people expressing the same idea implicitly rather than explicitly.
Many have also raised doubts as to why Mr. Li would have hidden cardiovascular diseases.
Last Public Appearance
Before going to Shanghai, Mr. Li made his last public appearance on Aug. 31 when he visited the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, in what was his first public appearance after stepping down in March this year.Located in China’s Gansu Province, the Mogao Caves are a network of Buddhist temple grottoes filled with intricate murals and statues representing a confluence of art, religion, and culture along the ancient Silk Road.
Online videos show that Mr. Li was accompanied by a group of people, including a photographer, when touring the caves and that he appeared to be in good health.
Current affairs commentator Cai Shenkun pointed out that it is very rare for a high-ranking CCP official to die suddenly from a heart attack.
“With the current level of medical care in China, a sudden cardiac infarction can be completely controlled, especially for a former member of the Standing Committee,” Mr. Cai said.
“Such an official is always accompanied by a full-time doctor, as well as secretaries and guards. Even if a heart attack occurs, emergency medication is taken orally immediately (to minimize the risk of sudden death),” he said.
Some people with knowledge of contemporary medical treatment for heart disease said online that emergency treatment should have been able to sustain Mr. Li’s life, no matter how grave the heart attack was.
According to these posts, modern hospitals can use an extracorporeal heart to complete the blood circulation of the human body. Even if the heart muscle is completely infarcted, the basic functions of life can still be maintained with this extracorporeal heart intubation.
Many top-level CCP officials, such as Deng Xiaoping, were in a vegetative state for a long time before they were pronounced dead, and they all relied on various kinds of intubation to maintain basic vital functions.
Often at Odds with Xi
Over the past three years, Mr. Li made several public remarks that could be interpreted as a slap in the face of CCP’s top leader Mr. Xi.
In February 2021, Mr. Xi publicly announced that China had “won a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty,” as it had lifted some 98.99 million rural poor people out of poverty. Mr. Xi boasted that China had created a “miracle on earth” by achieving this goal.
‘Purged or Humiliated’
On March 3 of this year, two days before Mr. Li stepped down as premier, in his farewell speech to the staff of the State Council, he suddenly said, “Heaven is looking at what humans are doing. The firmament has eyes.”This traditional Chinese saying is a curse on those who commit evil deeds, thinking that no one will know about them. China watchers believe Mr. Li was expressing his dissatisfaction with Mr. Xi.
Commentator Mr. Cai said that Mr. Xi has been targeting CCP officials within Mr. Li’s inner circle on multiple occasions, a clear sign that he held a grudge against Mr. Li.
“Li Keqiang’s former subordinate Sun Zhigang was taken away for investigation in August this year, which shows that Xi Jinping has not let go of Li Keqiang even after he retired from the political stage,” Mr. Cai said.
“In fact, over the past few years, almost all officials who were close to Li Keqiang or had worked with him have been purged or humiliated. For example, Li Jia, who Li Keqiang in Liaoning Province promoted, was dismissed from his party and government positions in August 2022,” Mr. Cai said.
It is generally believed that the investigation of Sun Zhigang—the Director of the Medical Reform Office of the State Council from 2010 to 2013, directly under Mr. Li, who was then in charge of the State Council’s medical reform efforts—made Mr. Li very unhappy.
Moreover, the recent investigation into Ling Chengxing, former head of China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, has reportedly affected Mr. Li’s younger brother—Li Keming, who began his career in the tobacco industry in the 1980s. When Mr. Li took his first high-level CCP position in 1993 as first secretary of the Youth League, Li Keming was quickly promoted to a position in the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration.
Xi’s Opponents Prefered Li
Before 2012, Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, and the CCP elders had wanted Mr. Li to be the CCP General Secretary during the transfer of power, but Mr. Xi eventually took the throne.Then, on the eve of the 20th National Congress last year, overseas Chinese media widely speculated that Mr. Xi would not be able to secure a third term; instead, he would step down and Mr. Li would be elected.
Many China watchers had long seen Mr. Li as a card played by the high-level anti-Xi faction within the CCP.
Mr. Li’s high-profile tour of the Mogao Caves actually defied Mr. Xi’s instructions that retired senior officials should minimize their public appearances and refrain from interfering with the work of current leaders.
China watchers, therefore, believed that behind Mr. Li’s unusual behavior, the top echelons of the CCP could be preparing for a new round of power struggles.
Senior Japanese writer Akio Yaita wrote an article on Oct. 27 saying that coupled with the recent downfalls of Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Defense Minister Li Shangfu, even if Mr. Li indeed died of natural causes, Mr. Xi won’t be able to wash away the blame, no matter how hard he tries.
