Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang recently died of a sudden heart attack after swimming in Shanghai’s Dongjiao State Guest Hotel, putting the hotel in the spotlight.
CCTV, a state media network, said Mr. Li had been “resting in Shanghai recently” and had died of a heart attack at 0:10 a.m. on Oct.27 after an “all-out effort” to revive him.
The 68-year-old former Prime Minister was in good health and enjoyed swimming. Radio Free Asia quoted a medical professional in Shanghai saying that Mr. Li arrived in the city on Oct.26 and had lodged at the Shanghai Dongjiao State Guest Hotel. “In that late afternoon, [Li Keqiang] suffered a sudden heart attack while swimming in the hotel,” the report said.
The Epoch Times requested comment from the staff at the swimming pool of Shanghai Dongjiao State Guest Hotel but was only informed that it was closed until Nov. 7 due to “refurbishments.”
The hotel’s website showed it cannot book rooms until Nov. 8.
The five-star Dongjiao State Guest Hotel, built in June 1995 as a rest home for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders and an official venue to meet guests or hold events, is the largest in Shanghai, with 1,200 acres (about 52 million square feet) in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area and similar in style to Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
Hu Liren, an entrepreneur and investment banking expert in Shanghai now lives in the United States, who told The Epoch Times on Oct. 28 that his friend working for the security department of the Shanghai Municipal Government revealed that the Central Guard Bureau has taken over the security of Shanghai Dongjiao State Guest Hotel, a task that his friend’s department had handled in the past.
CCP’s Central Guard Bureau
Mr. Hu said that the Central Security Bureau-controlled Shanghai Dongjiao State Guest Hotel is a rest home for confining certain senior officials whom CCP head Xi Jinping doesn’t trust.The primary mission of the Central Guard Bureau is to secure the personal safety of the high echelon of the CCP at the state level, known as the “Zhongnanhai Bodyguards” or the “Imperial Guards.”
For a decade of his rule, Mr. Xi has replaced the head of the guard bureau four times. The last one, Wang Shaojun, who led the bureau from 2014 to 2019, died on April 26 in Beijing at 67 “due to illness.” Xinhua News Agency announced his death on July 24, three months later, sparking public skepticism.
Wang Xiaohong is currently in charge of the Central Guard Bureau and is also the director of the Special Services Bureau. Mr. Wang is a close associate of Mr. Xi.
Mr. Li had served as the prime minister for ten years under Mr. Xi. In March 2023, Mr. Xi promoted Li Qiang as the new prime minister, and Mr. Li retired from his post.
According to Mr. Hu, over the years, several officials close to Mr. Li have been purged. For example, Li Jia, promoted by Li Keqiang in Liaoning, was dismissed from the party in August 2022 and demoted from the rank of minister. Li Keming, Li Keqiang’s younger brother, was removed from the head of the State Tobacco Administration in 2015.
Besides Mr. Li, Shanghai Dongjiao State Guest Hotel accommodated former CCP head Jiang Zemin for the rest of his life, and the Central Guard Bureau also assumed control of the security work.
That part of security assignments—according to Mr. Hu’s friend—were initially carried out by the Shanghai Municipal Government Security Department, which he worked for. A few times before Jiang Zemin’s death, they were told to evacuate from the hotel and hand it over to guards coming from Beijing, the Central Security Bureau.
Jiang Zemin reportedly died in Shanghai on Nov. 30, 2022, after failing to be rescued from leukemia and multiple organ failure.
On Sept. 30, 2021, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection published a circular on the expulsion of Sun Lijun, the former deputy minister of public security, from the Party for his involvement in forming cliques within the Party “controlling key departments.” Sun, a member of Jiang Zemin’s faction, was rumored to have been suspected of plotting to usurp Mr. Xi.
‘A Little Bit of Medical Common Sense’
Mr. Li was reportedly resuscitated at the Shuguang Hospital, Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, Shuguang Hospital is a hospital focused on bone-setting in Chinese medicine, not equipped to provide emergency care, according to Mr. Hu, a native of Shanghai.
Mr. Hu believes that the death of Mr. Li is suspicious.
“People with a little bit of medical common sense would know, like Mr. Li, such a high-ranking figure cured by a professional team of doctors, he was healthy and engaged in regular body exercise; how can a heart attack kill him?” he said.
Even if there was a heart attack, the result would have been different if Mr. Li had been sent to Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, one of the top three hospitals in China for cardiovascular disease treatment. It is only a 20-minute drive from Dongjiao State Guest Hotel, Mr. Hu added.
Mr. Hu pointed out that the violent nature of the CCP makes it difficult for whoever is in the communist bloc to end up with good results, “the events [occurred] inside the Communist Party are not something we can imagine: it’s too dark, a history of gangs vying for internal power and factional infighting.”
