The sudden death of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Shanghai on the evening of Oct. 27 has raised questions and even some suspicions.
The death of the 68-year-old is seen as suspicious by some, especially given his death was officially announced at the same time as that of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) founder and past leader Mao Zedong.
CCP officials said that Mr. Li’s death occurred at 00:10 on Oct. 27, which coincides with Mao’s death at 00:10 on Sept. 9, 1976.
Subsequently, political analysts have questioned whether the reported coincidence signifies a major political event.
But it is unclear whether either man genuinely died at precisely the same hour or if there were discrepancies in the reported time of death and the actual time of death.
The CCP would not announce the deaths of any of its former leaders or high-ranking officials without going through strict channels of approval since such an announcement may generate reactions from the Chinese public. Back in 1989, the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests were triggered by the announcement of the death of Hu Yaobang, a pro-democratic reform member of the CCP.
According to Mr. Chen, the former premier even appeared in public in late August and appeared to be in good spirits and in good physical condition, with no signs of health issues.
In addition, Mr. Li was once a member of the Political Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CCP and enjoys the treatment of political seniors after retirement, including the best medical teams and private doctors.
Political Assassination?
According to U.S.-based current affairs commentator Zhang Tianliang, Mr. Li played a supporting role in the 10 years that Mr. Xi appointed him as the premier.“The fact that former CCP leader Hu Jintao was escorted out of the 20th CCP Congress in public has shown that Mr. Hu’s faction has become a thing of the past.”
Mr. Zhang pointed out that multiple members of Mr. Hu’s faction within the CCP, including Mr. Hu’s son, have been removed from their positions, with one high-ranking member, Sun Zhengcai, being jailed.
“Hu’s faction has lost all power. So under such circumstances, if it is said that Xi Jinping considers Li Keqiang a threat and wants to get him assassinated, it just appears unlikely and unnecessary,” Mr. Zhang said.
Although some may believe that Mr. Xi ordered Mr. Li’s assassination, there is no evidence to prove that, he said.
Mr. Zhang instead believes that Mr. Li’s death is inconvenient for Mr. Xi due to fears that the Chinese people might demonstrate in remembrance of Mr. Li as a way of expressing dissatisfaction with Mr. Xi.
Mr. Li belonged to the “reform and opening up” school of thought within the CCP, while Mr. Xi belongs to the “Cultural Revolution” school of thought.
Feng Chongyi, a Chinese-Australian scholar and associate professor at the University of Technology in Sydney, agreed that any possibility that Mr. Li was assassinated was extremely low.
Mr. Feng said that if Mr. Li had been able to stand up for his ideas when he was premier, he would not have been humiliated and ostracized by Mr. Xi.
U.S.-based current affairs commentator Lu Tianming also said in an interview with The Epoch Times that Mr. Xi has no need to go after Mr. Li.
“The Hu Jintao faction has been dismantled, and Li Keqiang is only a person who has retired from his post. He is not a threat to Xi Jinping, so it is unnecessary for Xi Jinping to target him with an assassination,” he said.
According to Mr. Lu, those who benefit from Mr. Li’s death may actually be Mr. Xi’s political opponents, who are trying to create chaos.
“If there is a conspiracy behind Li Keqiang’s death in Shanghai, it is more likely that it is the remnants of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin’s Shanghai faction that was behind it,” he said.
“If they did it, they can put the blame on Xi, or at least make the outside world wonder if Xi did it. This will of course give Xi a very negative image and a bad name since he’d be killing Li Keqiang when he is no longer a threat. So there is such a possibility.”
Rising in the Ranks
Public information shows that Mr. Li began working under former CCP leader Hu Jintao in 1983. In 1993, at the age of 38, he became the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, the youngest of all CCP officials at that level at the time. Between 1998 and 1999, Mr. Li became the acting governor and governor of Henan Province, making him the youngest governor in China at that time.After the 16th CCP Congress in 2002, when Mr. Hu became the General Secretary and, therefore, China’s “president”, Mr. Li was promoted to the position of Party Secretary of Henan Province, and in 2004, he was transferred to the position of Party Secretary of Liaoning Province.
After the 17th CCP Congress in 2007, he was promoted to the first-ranking Vice Premier of the State Council. In March 2013, Mr. Li formally began his decade-long career as the premier of the CCP State Council.
However, at the 20th CCP Congress in October 2022, Mr. Li was not reappointed, and in March of this year, he stepped down as the Chinese premier and was succeeded by Li Qiang at the Two Sessions of the CCP.
